RIYADH — Around 90 percent of regional airports in the Kingdom need to be expanded, according to the new National Transport and Logistics Strategy, which was recently approved by the Cabinet. The strategy focuses on improving the quality of life in Saudi cities by achieving key targets, including further enhancing road and air connectivity. According to an analysis done by Okaz/Saudi Gazette, the strategy emphasized that four out of the Kingdom's six international airports need to be expanded. It also proposed the establishment of two global hubs so as to accommodate a total of 207 million passengers, and these include the new King Khalid International Airport, Riyadh with a plan to accommodate annually 93 million passengers and the new King Abdulaziz International Airport Jeddah accommodating 114 million passengers by the year 2030. According to the strategy, three out of 12 local airports have sufficient capacity to fulfill future demand, while seven of them need to be expanded. With regard to 10 regional airports, nine of them (90 percent), especially those close to major tourist destinations, require substantial expansion of their capacity. The strategy calls for establishing global logistical platforms and zones and international hubs for aviation. It also seeks to develop port infrastructure and to enhance the contribution of the transport and logistics sector to the national gross domestic product (GDP) to 10 percent instead of about six percent at present. The strategy aims to achieve several ambitious goals, the most prominent of which is to put the Kingdom on the list of the top 10 countries globally in the logistic performance index.
