Airport International Group (AIG), the company responsible for the rehabilitation, expansion and operation of Queen Alia International Airport (QAIA), organized a comprehensive tour of the new terminal for representatives of local media.
The visit began with a brief presentation by AIG's Chief Executive Officer, Curtis Grad, in which he highlighted the latest developments and future plans and answered the media's inquiries on the project, followed by a first-hand view of the new terminal construction site, where the media representatives were briefed on the overall progress of the works.
Significant progress has been made in various areas of the project, including the general structural works. This progress is reflected in the completion percentages which were 29% up to the end of December 2009 to 61.8% overall progress in December 2010. Similarly, certified amounts varied from 209 Million JDs to 305 Million JDs for the same period.
Major construction milestones in 2010 include, progress on installation of the domes, roofing systems and Piers Link bridges, delivery of the major equipment such as Passenger Boarding Bridges, elevators and escalators, the installation of the Baggage Handling System and curtain walling, the completion of the elevated via duct road, and the commencement of the main car parking towards the end of the year.
"We are extremely pleased with our 2010 traffic performance, in which passenger traffic shattered the previous record of 4.8 million in 2009, reaching 5.4 million passengers for the first time in QAIA's history. QAIA now ranks as one of the fastest growing airports in the region in terms of passengers volumes, as well as flight activity" commented Grad.
"The construction of the new terminal is witnessing tangible progress; with the main terminal and first stage of the passengers piers due to open in mid-2012, which will revolutionize QAIA and better serve our rapidly growing market."
QAIA has welcomed a multitude of new carriers, routes and additional flight frequencies over the last three years, from a broad range of scheduled air carriers including new services by: Royal Jordanian, Delta, Air Arabia, Austrian, Alitalia, Vueling, FlyDubai, airBaltic, Iberia and Tarom Romanian; in addition to new charter services by Air Mediterranee, MINT Airways, XL Airways and a host of others charter operators. Since 2007, QAIA passenger traffic has risen from 3.8m to 5.4m annually, while total flight frequencies have increased from ~400/week to well in excess of 650/week in the summer of 2010, and the number of carriers has grown from 28 to 40+ in the same period, with destinations expanding from 58 to 64.
The USD750 million rehabilitation and expansion works at QAIA are well underway, including the construction of a new state-of-the-art 100,000 square meter passenger terminal. AIG is a Jordanian company with private shareholding by Invest AD (Abu Dhabi, UAE), Noor Financial Investment Company (Kuwait), Edgo Group (Jordan), Joannou & Paraskevaides (Overseas) Limited (Cyprus), J&P-Avax (Greece) and Aéroports de Paris Management (France).
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© Press Release 2011
