Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH —

Saudi Arabia is aiming to accommodate the ever increasing demand for air transport by building two modern airports in the northern cities of Al-Jouf and Qurayyat, which once completed will have a combined a capacity for 1.5 million passengers annually.

President of the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) Abdulhakim Al-Tamimi conveyed his thanks and appreciation to the Custodian of Two Holy Mosques King Salman and Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, deputy prime minister and defense minister, on the occasion of laying the cornerstone for the new airports.

The projects comes within the framework of “Unified Airports Model”, in line with GACA’s vision in building a modern airports system with advanced services.

Al-Tamimi expressed his deep gratitude for launching the projects by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, which gives the project an extra momentum in the course of development and clearly embodies the leadership’s full grasp of the population growth in the Kingdom.

He also pointed out that the new Al-Jouf and Al-Qurayyat airports are getting special care and attention from Al-Jouf Emir Prince Badr Bin Sultan, his deputy Prince Abdulaziz Bin Fahd Bin Turki and Dr. Nabil Al-Amoudi, the minister of transport and chairman of GACA’s board of directors.

Al-Tamimi went on to say that the two airports fall within the network of projects implemented by GACA as per its strategic plan that comes in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030. The GACA goal is to develop the infrastructure and upgrade the level of services provided to the traveling public in all of the Kingdom’s airports..

He said the new Al-Jouf airport will be implemented according to the Unified Airports Model (B), which can accommodate 1 million passengers annually, while the new Al-Qurayyat airport will be built according to the Unified Airports Model Plan (A), which can accommodate half a million passengers annually. GACA’s aim by the launch of the two airports is to accommodate the strong growth in demand for air transport. It also looks forward to increasing the quality of services provided to support the economic viability of the region, he added.