RIYADH — President of the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) Sulaiman Bin Abdullah Al-Hamdan visited the new Terminal 5 of King Khaled International Airport (KKIA) in Riyadh to inspect work under progress.
Al-Hamdan was accompanied by Airport Director Yousef Al-Abdan, General Manager for Marketing in GACA Basem Al-Sallom and project supervisor Abdulelah Al-Fozan.
The project was being implemented to reduce pressure on Terminal 3 during renovation and expansion work at the airport, GACA said in a press release. The new terminal, which will be ready for test run by the end of this year, will also contribute to absorbing an expected increase in passengers when the expansion project is completed, the press release said.
Al-Hamdan said 65 percent of the terminal's work has been completed. The project was awarded to a consortium of Turkish TAV and Saudi Al-Arab Company in July 2013 with a 30-month contract.
The overall size of Terminal 5 is 100,000 sq. meters and it will have an annual capacity of 12 million passengers. With 60 check-in counters, 20 self-service booths and five luggage conveyor belts, the terminal can handle passengers on 8 jumbo aircraft or 16 medium size airplanes simultaneously.
“The project is implemented to realize the vision of the government and also it is part of GACA's strategies to develop the aviation sector in the Kingdom. This will enable us to provide advanced services for travelers at KKIA where we expect a significant growth in the volume of traffic,” Al-Hamdan said after the tour.
