Saudi GACA said to postpone Taif PPP airport project

Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) has postponed the tender for the design, finance, construction and maintenance of the proposed Taif international airport “for the time being”, MEED reported Monday citing a source close to the matter.

The names of companies that had prequalified for the project, the kingdom’s second airport to be procured using a public-private partnership (PPP) model, were to be announced in February or March, but no official announcement was made either by the aviation regulator or the project adviser International Finance Corporation (IFC).

However, some potential bidders have voiced strong reservations on the feasibility of Taif unless GACA committed to diverting a certain percentage of passengers from the Jeddah airport to be diverted into the planned new airport.

The scheme can only be successful under the assumption that annual passenger traffic reaches 20 million, where each passenger is charged $3-$4 as airport fee, and each luggage is charged at least 35 cents, according to one contractor MEED cited.

The reason for the decision is unclear—whether it is directly related to this issue or to the kingdom’s strategy which is aimed at slashing project spending, or both.

Taif airport was planned to become the third airport catering to the hajj and umrah pilgrims in addition to King Abdulaziz International (KAIA) in Jeddah and Medina airport.