Saudi Arabia has invited local and international private firms to bid for a project to expand and modernise Haj terminal at King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA) in Jeddah.

The project is part of a masterplan to expand and upgrade the entire airport – to boost its capacity and modernise it to be able to receive the new Airbus A380 superjumbos – at an estimated cost of over a billion dollars, under a build-operate-transfer (BOT) agreement.
Passenger congestion last year at the Haj terminal at King Abdulaziz International Airport was 75 per cent over its design capacity, the Presidency of Civil Aviation (PCA) said in a statement.
 The PCA expects the Haj terminal traffic to grow from 4.5 million passengers in 2004, or 31 per cent of the airport’s total traffic, to 9.2 million passengers in 2025. The PCA will first assess technical proposals that include design and development plans, and then financial proposals, most likely based on the minimum user charge. It has set a December 14 as the pre-qualification deadline and expects to launch the final tender in April 2006.
“All of the (Jeddah’s airport) terminals are old, congested, and unable to meet the demands of the present-day traveller,” it said. “As a first step, PCA would like to address the capacity and quality constraints at the Haj terminal, the most important air terminal associated with the kingdom,” it added.
The redesign tender will be tendered to ensure that their size is consistent with the appropriate site and that they serve the PCA’s new commercial orientation.
Certain modifications and improvements will be made in both the south (Saudia) and north (foreign airlines) terminals, to facilitate continuity of operations until the major airport expansion project has been completed.
The capacity of the new terminals, together with their associated facilities, is envisaged to be 30 million passengers a year in phase one, with the potential of serving as many as 60 million passengers later. All airport facilities will be capable of accommodating the A380 jet.
The estimated cost of the airport’s expansion is SR4 billion ($1.1 billion). However, the final cost will be determined when the project execution contracts have been awarded.