The first annual Kingdom Airports Aviation and Logistics Conference kicked off Tuesday at Jeddah Center for Forums and Events under the patronage of Prince Fahd Bin Abdullah Bin Muhammad, president of the General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA). The milestone event attracted over 100 exhibitors from around the world. The Kingdom expects to begin construction work in November to triple capacity at its Riyadh airport and expects the project to be completed by 2015, said Khalid Al-Khaibari, spokesman of GACA. “The expansion will include the construction of a new terminal, terminal five, which will start within six months and is expected to be complete by November 2013 and an expansion and upgrade of existing terminals three and four, which are currently in the design phase,” he said. GACA has issued a request-for-proposals for the design and project management packages on terminals three and four, with proposals expected by mid June. The new King Abdulaziz Airport will serve 30 million passengers by 2014. King Khalid Airport will be expanded to welcome 25 million passengers and Prince Muhammad airport will be developed to welcome eight million passengers. Hassan Horaib, the supervising engineer for Abha airport development project, told Saudi Gazette that this project will be serving 3.5 million passengers in its first phase. Horaib also added that Jizan airport will welcome 2.4 million passengers, rising to 3.6 in the future. Faisal Al-Sughair the vice president of GACA, said that they control a grand network of 28 airports with 54.5 million travelers in 2011. __
