Saudi Arabia signs $68.3 million consultancy agreement for expansion of Jeddah airport

Saudi crown prince, Sultan ibn Abdulaziz, chairman of Saudi Arabia''s civil aviation regulator (GACA), has signed a 256 million Saudi riyal contract ($68.3 million) on Tuesday with international consultancy, Dar Al-Handasah (Shair and Partners) to manage the construction work at Jeddah''s new airport.

The consultancy will supervise the work at the largest airport to be built in Saudi Arabia, through a five-year contract. The construction is expected to start in the beginning of 2008. Shair and Partners operate from Cairo and Beirut.

Under the plan, GACA will allocate 18 billion riyals ($4.8 billion) to develop the archaic King Abdulaziz airport in Jeddah into a regional hub, with development taking place through three stages. The first stage is expected to be complete by the first quarter of 2011.

With the completion of all the three stages, the airport''s capacity will reach the planned capacity of 80 million passengers per year.

Initially, by the end of the first stage, the airport''s capacity will increase from 13 million passengers to 30 million passengers each year, then 60 million and eventually 80 million passengers per year on the completion of the third, and final, stage.

The new airport will have four new crescent-shaped passenger terminals, and a high-speed rail link that will connect the airport to the two holy Islamic cities of Mecca and Medina.

The expansion of the airport includes the construction of support services building, renovation of the existing South and North Terminals and upgrades to the existing runway and airfield systems to accommodate the Airbus A380.

Based on current traffic increase, the existing South Terminal will need to serve about 21 million passengers per year over the next 20 years to meet growing demand. The airport has to provide the facilities required for the service of pilgrims and those who visit the country to perform Umrah.

Abdullah Rehaimy, president, GACA, said that the organisation would start running the airport on a profit-making base once the construction is complete.