Okaz newspaper

I WAS on a visit to the new King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah. This was a few days ago but with the overlapping of events, I could not tell you about this gem of pride that is going to adorn the neckline of the bride of the Red Sea.

I remember feeling at the end of the visit that Jeddah will soon have its promised sea, air and train excusions. During the visit, I toured all the facilities of the airport in the company of Essam Fouad, director general of the airport, and a number of young officials.

The tour brought happiness to my heart because I came to realize that the residents of Jeddah were in for a pleasant surprise that would be brought by the new airport.

The passengers suffered for a long time because of Jeddah›s old airport, which offered them nothing but substandard services. The residents of the city often complained about the humbleness of their airport.

During the tour I was furnished with a lot of data and I personally witnessed many spectacular facilities. Together, the lounges will have a total area of 810,000 square meters. There is a transport center, which will receive the arriving passengers. It will also be the linking point between the passengers› building, the car parks and the train station.

The airport will have an aquarium, which is 10 meters in diameter and 14 meters in height. Its capacity is about a million liters of water.

The train station has an area of 12,000 square meters and two individual platforms, each 519 meters long.

The fire and safety center has 10 cars, an administration building and a training center.

The new airport will have parking lots accommodating a total of 21,665 cars. There are roads, tunnels and flyovers covering an area of 36 kilometers.

There are three centers for power supply, service kiosks in the departure lounges, an information desk having a wide space to serve the passengers and to manage the smart applications inside it.

The control tower is 136 meters high, which makes it the highest in the world.

There is also a mosque that can accommodate as many as 3,732 worshippers at a time.

There are 66 domestic and international boarding lounges, 44 gates and a hotel with 120 rooms. The airport has more than 500 passport processing desks.

The time required for ferrying the luggage is 45 seconds from the time of landing the aircraft.

The new airport will be a pendant decorating the city›s neck. I saw arriving and departing passengers. The General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) has begun test runs to make sure the airport is ready for commercial operations.

The new airport will no doubt be a source of great pride for the residents of the Red Sea coastal city.