New developments to raise capacity of Madinah Airport

TAV Airports is to invest $275 million on expanding the existing terminal and building a new domestic terminal at Madinah Airport (Medina) in Saudi Arabia.

It says that the investment is needed to ensure that the airport is equipped to handle 18 million passengers per annum, allowing it to meet “surging passenger traffic”, which last year jumped by just under 50% to 9.4 million passengers.

The gateway, officially called Prince Mohammad Bin Abdulaziz International Airport, was Saudi Arabia’s first airport privatisation project.

The signing of the ‘Head of Terms’ agreement was attended by the 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 enthused: “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 lift 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 holds the concession rights to operate Madinah Airport until May 2041.

The planned investment includes building a new domestic terminal with an area of 40,000sqm, which allow for the existing terminal to concentrate on the further development of international traffic.

According to TAV Airports, which is a member of Groupe ADP, the airport will also benefit from new connecting roads and more car parking spaces.

TAV Airports began the operation and development of Madinah Airport in 2012 and has since built a new terminal, which upon opening was the first LEED-certificated building in the MENA region.

Global airport operator, TAV Airports, served 96 million passengers in 2023 at 110 airports in 33 countries across the globe.