Jeddah, Dammam airports said to be privatized in 2017

Saudi Arabia will privatize airports in Jeddah and Dammam next year as part of plans to diversify its income sources amid declining oil prices, Alriyadh newspaper reported, citing Sulaiman Bin Abdullah Al-Hamdan, president of the kingdom’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA).

Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA) and Dammam’s King Fahd International Airport will be privatized in the second and third quarters of 2017, respectively, Al-Hamdan said during a press conference.

GACA will allow foreign companies to invest in airports being privatized, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing the authority’s chairman Faisal Al-Saqir. Local investments in some airports would be capped at 25 percent in order to ensure that foreign operators receive a majority holding in operating contracts, he added.

In November, GACA said its privatization program would begin at Riyadh’s King Khaled International Airport in the first quarter of 2016. The air navigation sector is set for privatization Q2, followed by the information technology sector in Q3.

Other local and regional airports will be privatized gradually from 2018 to 2020, he added.