By Abdulaziz Ghazzawi

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — Work is continuing to put final touches for the opening of the new King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah. In the new facility, all airlines in the Kingdom will be operating under one roof.

The preparations are in line with the announcement made by the Makkah Governorate that the airport would be fully operational before the end of the year.

The General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) said lounge No. 1 in the new airport became operational some time back on an experimental basis.

It said the passengers were using this lounge to travel to 21 domestic destinations .

The new airport has an area of 810,000 sq. meters, 220 counters to serve passengers and 80 counters for self-service.

It has a commercial complex with an area of 37,987 sq. meters, a three-story hotel with 120 rooms for transit passengers, a number of praying areas, an advanced system for luggage handling consisting of conveyors which are 34 km long and green areas with a size of 18,000 sq. meters.

The airport has a multi-story parking lots which can accommodate as many as 8,209 cars, a parking area for taxis accommodating 749 vehicles and another area which can take as many as 48 buses at a time.

There is a parking place for as many as 1,222 rented cars and parking for long periods of time with a capacity of 4,344 cars.

The first and business class passengers will have a special parking area that can easily accommodate 145 cars in addition to 119 cars for the VIPs.

The staff will have two parking lots the first accommodating 5,251 cars and the second 1,936.