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RIYADH: Prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz International Airport is now gradually recovering from the ramifications of the pandemic, according to Ismail Sulaiman Al-Rajhi, chairman of Tibah Airport Development Co., which operates the aviation hub.

“We were in a very high growth, or a reasonable growth, from the early years until 2019. Then we had a huge drop in the market in Saudi Arabia — I would say, in the range of 70 percent to 75 percent. As a specific case, we can see it in other airports of the world and not only in Saudi Arabia,” Al-Rajhi told Arab News on the sidelines of the Future Aviation Forum.

But now the airport has been steadily witnessing a significant increase in traffic and number of passengers in the first few months of 2022 as authorities succeeded in containing to a great extent the spread of COVID-19.

“Also, we predict that until the end of the year, we will have a better recovery. I would assume we will be in the range of 80 percent to 85 percent. And we assume by the coming year 2023, we will be having, I would say, better numbers,” he said, adding: “All the traffic advisors specialized in the aviation industry expect the return of the traffic as it was in 2019 in the range of four years. And I think we may do it a bit faster than that. I would assume in three years we will be catching up.”

Tibah was awarded the contract in October 2011 to build and operate the Madinah airport, the first airport project in the Middle East to be fully built under PPP.  The project was inaugurated in July 2015. 

The $1.2 billion expansion plan consists of a three-level terminal covering over 156,940 square meters with 16 aircraft stands and boarding bridges.

“From the time we took the concession in June 2012 and until 2019 we doubled the capacity or the traffic from 2012 to 2019. As I said earlier we had two difficult years but now the traffic at the airport is much better,” Al-Rajhi said.

He stressed that his company has no plans at the moment to list the firm’s shares on the Saudi stock exchange.

Prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz International Airport has also been aggressively seeking to apply international standards to reduce carbon emissions and preserve the ecosystem.

“Madinah airport is the first airport in the region that took the gold lead in terms of green initiatives. So since the airport was built, it has been taking into consideration the green initiatives and we took the gold lead. I think like five years ago, if I remember right. That is from one angle. The other angle is you have to continue developing. In fact, even during the last 2022 and 2021, we find that it’s an opportunity to invest and try to develop,” he said.

The company continued investing due to cybersecurity threats over the last year.

“We invested heavily and there are requirements from the company which we are working with them closely to meet. And hopefully they are very satisfied with what’s being done there. Not only in Medina airport but in all other airports in Saudi Arabia.”