JEDDAH: Plans are being prepared to develop King Fahd International Airport (KFIA) in Dammam into a full-fledged business city with advanced facilities to attract more foreign airlines and passengers.
The new move, according to Khaled Al-Muzael, the airport's director, is in line with global trend of providing business facilities and opportunities near airports.
The project includes construction of hotels, conference halls, an aviation training institute and aircraft maintenance industries as well as playgrounds and parking areas.
Al-Muzael said the airport's development plan would be carried out with the support of international companies. "We have started working on the project's plan about six months ago and it will be ready by the beginning of next year," he added.
The future plan for KFIA would focus on increasing facilities and services to passengers and providing more investment opportunities, he said, adding that the new airport city would offer a lot of investment opportunities for private companies including real estate developers.
Al-Muzael downplayed the departure of many foreign airline companies from KFIA to neighboring airports. "We are now in the process of developing systems and providing more facilities to attract international airlines," Al-Muzael said. He said a Saudi-Spanish company has won the contract to establish a duty-free shop at the airport, adding that it would be operational early next year. He also disclosed plans to establish a cargo village inside the airport complex.
"We have resorted to the help of a Singaporean company to develop the airport," he said. The present airport was designed to accommodate 16.2 million passengers by 2005.
In a recent statement, Prince Sultan bin Salman, Secretary-General of the General Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (GCTA), emphasized the government's plan to transform the Kingdom's international airports into corporations in order to play an important role in economic development.
"There are plans to transform civil aviation into different sectors to privatize them and open them for investment," the Saudi Press Agency quoted Prince Sultan saying.
Prince Sultan, who is also chairman of the Supervising Committee for the Development of King Khaled International Airport in Riyadh, said the General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA) was carrying out a number of projects including airport cities, and providing more areas for exhibitions and other services.
Prince Sultan said GACA is currently engaged in developing all of the Kingdom's airports and improving their services for passengers. "The government intends to develop the civil aviation law in a comprehensive manner," he added.
Abdullah Al-Ruhaimy, president of GACA, said the transformation of airports into corporations would be carried out gradually. "We have resorted to the assistance of international companies to manage international airports," he added.
He said the new plan would improve management of airports. "This will eventually help the state to take a decision on privatization of these airports," he said.
By P.K. Abdul Ghafour
© Arab News 2008
