Jeddah Airport

In 1981 (1401/02 AH), the late King Khalid opened the King Abdul Aziz International Airport in Jeddah. This airport, which has special facilities for handling the annual influx of pilgrims performing Hajj, has a land area of 105 square kilometers. It has three separate terminals, one for internal flights, the second for international flights by more than forty foreign airlines and the third terminal is reserved for pilgrims. The fiberglass pilgrim terminal is tent-shaped. Its 12-teflon coated tents are highly resistant to heat, humidity and weather changes. In late January 2007, Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz signed a SR 902.91 million contract with Al-Mabani Company to develop and upgrade aviation facilities at the King Abdulaziz International Airport, to be completed in 26 months. The contract covers expansion of the airport’s tarmac and runways in order to increase its annual capacity to 80 million passengers. The work will also include construction of a new aircraft parking facility west of the Hajj Terminal, as well as modernisation of ground lights systems and information technology infrastructure. The expansion also comprises of four new terminal buildings and a high-speed rail link.