THE new King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, will be ready by the end of this year, said Prince Fahd bin Abdullah, president of the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA).

“About 60 per cent of the project has been completed and the remaining work will be carried out at a much faster pace to finish on time,” he said after inspecting the progress of work at the airport.

Prince Fahd said trial operations of the world-class airport would start during the first five months of 2015.

The expansion will increase the airport’s annual capacity to 30 million passengers in the first phase and 80 million in the final phase.

The SR27-billion ($7.19 billion) project is designed to make KAIA one of the largest hubs in the world. Spanning an area of 670,000 sq m, the airport will have two new terminals for domestic and international passengers.

Finance Minister Ibrahim Al Assaf, who accompanied the prince during the tour, said the new KAIA would play a pivotal role in linking the East and the West.

Apart from the construction of two new terminals, the project includes passenger lounges, a new concourse building with 25 additional passenger bridges and connector buildings linking the terminals, air bridges and movable gates, extension and overall renovation of the existing South Terminal, apron and taxiway modifications and extensions, electrical and mechanical systems, and a car-park.