Management operations at King Fahd International Airport in Dammam will be fully transferred to a Singapore-based company by the end of next October, said Prince Fahd Bin Abdullah, assistant minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General for Civil Aviation, Tuesday. The statement came during a meeting of the supervisory committee of the development project at King Abdul Aziz International Airport in Jeddah. The meeting discussed the monthly progress report of improvement work at the Jeddah airport. The Singapore-based company was not named. Foreign management operations of the Dammam airport followed similar operations by international companies at King Khaled International Airport in Riyadh and King Abdul Aziz International Airport in Jeddah. The Kingdom is bringing the international experience through foreign partnerships to boost the quality of services provided to passengers at the Kingdom's airports, the assistant minister said. Foreign partnership would help ease the flow of administration work and improve air travel, he said of the type of takeover operations. The Kingdom's airports would be undergoing development overhauls to serve as both national and international hubs for airlines and top commercial centers, Prince Fahd added. According to a Cabinet decision, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) will become an independent body with a clear mission, and a tight organizational flow to replace the “current unorganized” administration of the Kingdom's airports, he said. - Okaz __
