Saudi Arabia transfers airports to the Public Investment Fund
The head of the General Authority of Civil Aviation in Saudi Arabia, Abdulaziz Al-Duailej, revealed that the target capacity of passengers at King Salman Airport in 2030 is 120 million passengers through 4 runways, to reach 185 million passengers through 6 runways in 2050.
All airports, including their assets and assets, will be transferred to the Public Investment Fund, and there are airports ready for transfer in the coming months, including King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh and Dammam.
This comes after an extensive study of King Salman Airport in terms of capacity, navigation procedures, number of passengers, supply and demand.
Al-Duailej explained, during a television interview with “Eighth” channel, that the location of King Salman Airport in the capital, Riyadh, includes many advantages, the most important of which is the strong infrastructure. Public investments.
Perspective picture of King Salman Airport
Creation of new airlines
As for the establishment of new airlines, it will be instead of relying entirely on Saudi Airlines.
And on this, “Al-Duailij” stressed that the Saudi aviation, which owns 140 aircraft, is not sufficient alone to cover the geographical area of the Kingdom and does not cover the need, indicating that the new aviation is also under the supervision of the Public Investment Fund.
He also added that the presence of new airlines next to Saudi Airlines, with a capacity of 330 million passengers and 300 destinations and external stations, comes as a matter of obtaining the integrated services model, indicating that the authority has worked to solve the problem of terminals 3 and 4 at King Khalid International Airport.
And he continued that Terminal 1, 2 and 5 need a complete modernization in terms of belt systems, electricity and the entire system, explaining that there is a project that will start within weeks to modernize Terminal 1, and foreign tankers will be transferred to Terminal 2 for a year, after which Terminal 1 will open and those carriers will return, so work will be done to modernize Terminal 2 next.
Jeddah airport crisis last Ramadan
As Al-Duailej explained, what happened last Ramadan was shameful and sad, and everyone bears full responsibility, but there are reasons for this crisis, including the nature of the pilgrims, as they come in groups and groups, as well as the size and weight of the bags in their possession, and the lack of cadres and lack of qualification. And the lack of adequate awareness and coordination between the various parties, indicating that the baggage transfer systems at the airport are very sensitive and have certain standards in the measurements and size of bags.
He pointed out that all the causes that caused the occurrence of this problem were investigated, studied and addressed, by activating surveillance and control cameras and activating the Hajj hall throughout the year, indicating that any defect in any part of the services provided to the traveler affects the rest of the operations that follow.
In addition, he noted that the challenge facing the authority today is the existence of close supervision of all travel operations, whether from facilities, maintenance, operation, carriers, or dealing with other relevant parties, explaining that the Supreme Committee for Logistics Services approved the general plan for Jeddah Airport, and the signature was signed With an Irish company to contribute to the management of the airport and the transfer of knowledge to national cadres.
