SAUDI ARABIA. Groupe ADP company TAV Airports, with its consortium partner Al-Rajhi Holding, plans a US$275 million investment to develop Madinah Airport amid surging passenger traffic growth.
The planned investment includes building a new domestic terminal across 40,000sq m and developing the existing terminal to accommodate more international traffic. New connecting roads will be built and car park capacity increased.
Madinah Airport welcomed 9.4 million passengers in 2023, a +49% increase compared to the previous year. The planned projects will grow capacity to 18 million passengers a year.
The signing of the Head of Terms agreement was attended by Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Transport Saleh bin Nasser AI Jasser, President of General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) Abdulaziz Al-Duailej, TAV Airports CEO Serkan Kaptan and Executive Board Member and Chair of ExCom Franck Mereyde.
Kaptan said: “We have been successfully operating Madinah Airport, the gateway to the Holy Land, together with our partner Al-Rajhi, for the last 12 years. The passenger traffic is increasing on a very fast pace following the lifting of travel bans brought in during the pandemic. This new investment programme will help accommodate increasing demand and is fully supporting Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, which aims to attract more visitors into the country.”
The consortium of TAV Airports and Al-Rajhi Holding has the concession rights to operate Madinah Airport until May 2041.
TAV Airports undertook the build-operate-transfer project and began operations in 2012, when Madinah became Saudi Arabia’s first airport privatisation. At the time a new US$1.2 billion terminal was constructed, which became the first LEED-certificated building in the MENA region. ✈
