Saudi GACA to award Jeddah airport contract soon

Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) has received bids to operate and maintain Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International airport (KAIA), and the contract could be awarded “possibly within early August,” MEED reported, citing an unnamed source familiar with the project.

Firms that are said to have pre-qualified for the contract include Aeroports de Paris Management (France)/Saudi Binladin Group, Malaysia Airport Holding Berhad (Malaysia), and Changi Airports International (Singapore).

It is not confirmed if Germany’s Fraport, which earlier held operate and maintain (O&M) contract, has pre-qualified or is planning to submit an offer.

Fraport and Changi Airports International both signed O&M contracts with GACA in 2008, the report said.

Fraport was awarded a $111.3 million deal to manage KAIA and Riyadh’s King Khaled International airport (KKIA), while Changi Airports International won a $42.5m contract to manage King Fahd International airport (KFIA) in Dammam.

GACA extended its contract with Changi Airports International for seven months, after the deals expired in 2014.

KAIA is the country’s largest airport by passenger traffic. In 2015, it handled 30.1 million passengers, a 7.4 percent rise compared with the previous year, the report said.

The expansion plans for the Jeddah airport aim to increase KAIA’s capacity to 43 million passengers a year by 2025, and 80 million passengers by 2035.

The expansion work is expected to be complete by 2017.