meet saudiarabia AVIATION
Saudi takes off
A combination of increasing visitor numbers and the recent liberalisation of domestic airspace has been the catalyst behind the expansion of the aviation sector
Saudi Arabia’s population of more than 29 million people instantly makes it the GCC’s largest aviation market. Combined with the country’s size, air travel in Saudi Arabia is growing fast, fuelled by demand from rising numbers of internal travellers. Until 2013, only two government-owned
carriers served the domestic market – the flagship Saudi Arabian Airlines (or Saudia) and the low-cost National Air Services, operating under the flynas brand name. Through a liberalisation of its aviation policy, Saudi Arabia opened up its aviation sector at the start of 2013 to both foreign and domestic private operators. Saudi travellers will now have more than the two state-run airlines to choose from for the first time. For international visitors, Saudi Arabia is
extremely well-connected, with 12 international airports and six major hubs in Riyadh, Jeddah, Madinah, Damman, Al Asha and Yanbu. In response to growing visitor numbers, the General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA) has plans to invest around US$20 billion (SAR75 billion) to develop airports in the country by 2020.
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The private sector will also be a major player in this drive with an additional US$10 billion (SAR37.5 billion) in investment. Riyadh is served by the King Khalid
International Airport, 35 kilometres north of the city centre. Around 17 million passengers use the airport annually and it is one of the hubs of the national flag carrier Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia), which flies from the city to more than 45 international destinations across four continents.
EXPANSIVE PLANS Plans to build a fifth terminal at the airport and develop a fourth one currently lying unused are projected to increase its capacity to 35 million passengers annually in five years. A link to Riyadh’s proposed Metro railway system has also been incorporated into the expansion plans to facilitate faster connectivity to the city centre. Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International
Airport is the third largest in the kingdom and the main hub for Saudia. More than 65 airlines connect it to all parts of the globe while Saudia flies to
around 100 regional and international destinations on four continents. Almost all major global carriers call at
Jeddah and the city takes advantage of its ideal location – it is at the heart of the Middle East and North Africa, with most capitals of the region within a two-hour flying time – to be one of the most globally connected cities in the region. An expansion of the city’s airport, with the first phase slated for completion in 2014, involves the construction of three new terminal buildings that will increase annual capacity first to 30 million passengers from the existing 13 and eventually target 80 million annual passengers. A high-speed rail link is also planned
to connect the airport to the city centre and to other cities in the region, such as Madinah and Makkah. The 780-square-kilometre King Fahd International Airport in Dammam – the
1 King Khalid International Airport, Riyadh 2 Saudia Private Aviation 3 King Khalid International Airport expansion project
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