New terminal plans for Saudi airport

A new state of the art terminal featuring 74 jet bridges for foreign and Saudi planes will be built at King Abdul Aziz International Airport (KAIA) in Jeddah.

Abdullah Ruhaimy, president of the General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA) has signed an agreement with Aéroports de Paris Company of France (ADP) to provide design and engineering services for the first phase of KAIA's development project.

Mr Ruhaimy said in a news report the new airport terminal, which will be ready by 2012, would receive 30 million passengers every year.

According to local media Crown Prince Sultan, deputy premier and minister of defence and aviation, witnessed the signing of the agreement, which is valued at US$ 137 million.

The new terminal will receive aircraft of varying sizes including 555-seat A380 planes.

It will also have a new air control tower with advanced aviation systems and an air cargo village with an annual capacity of three million tonnes in addition to new tarmacs and aircraft parking facilities.

ADP will design a railway station, a multi-storey car park, a general plan for maintenance facilities, roads leading to the new terminal, an internal road network, aircraft parking areas and new tarmacs, as well as investment and commercial areas.