The Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia and Custodian of the two Holy Mosques King Salman inaugurated the new King Abdul Aziz International Airport Terminal 1 (KAIA Terminal 1) in Jeddah.

King Abdul Aziz International Airport is one of the largest airport in the region, with an estimated area of ​​810,000 square meters and a capacity of 30 million passengers per year.

KAIA Terminal 1 has a total area of 810,000 square meters and a capacity for handling 30 million passengers a year. It will be able to accommodate up to 70 aircraft simultaneously, including the Airbus A380 superjumbo jet.

KAIA Terminal 1 is estimated to be one of the largest terminals in the world. The long-term goal is to handle more than 80 million passengers per year by 2035 to keep pace with the growing demand on air travel and plans for attracting more tourists.

During the tour, the king saw a presentation of the details of the airport and on civil aviation in the Kingdom.

The Minister of Transport and Chairman of the General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA), Dr. Nabil bin Mohammed Al-Amoudi, said that the Kingdom’s civil aviation sector has recently achieved qualitative leaps and creative developments that contributed to 4.6% of GDP.

Jeddah is the main airport where pilgrims arrive before travelling on to Makkah to perform the religious Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages.

Pilgrims comprise the bulk of Saudi Arabia’s 20 million annual foreign visitors, apart from workers and business travelers.

He said, according to indicators by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the number of domestic and international airports doubled to 28 airports.