São Paulo – Saudi Arabia is committed to privatize operations of some of its main airports. The information was fowarded to local newspaper Al-Eqtisadiah by Khaled Al-Khaibary, press secretary of Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (Gaca, in the English acronym).
“Management and operation of some importante airports, with intense domestic and international air traffic, will soon be offered to the private sector”, said Khaibary to the paper. The Al-Eqtisadiah is published only in Arabic, but the news are republished by several Arab news organization with English versions.
According to Gaca’s press secretary, terminal Haj, of King Abdulaziz International Airport, in Jeddah, and airport Prince Muhammad Bin Abdulaziz, in Medina, are already privatized. Khaibary also said that Taif airport will also be transferred to the private sector by the end of the year.
According to the news website Albawaba, the privatization plans of the Saudi airports occur in the midst of overwhelming criticism about King Abdulaziz International Airport. Last year, the place was ranked as one of the worst airports in the world, according to reviews made by users on a survey of the website A Guide to Sleeping In Airports.
The website assesses the opinions of travelers about airport installations around the world. The Saudi airport’s rank was established according to comfort, practicality, cleanliness and customer service. “The main terminal is too basic. It’s not very clean, the crowd could become a problem and there are few services available to travelers”, says the website, based on passengers’ reviews.
According to Albawaba, Saudi Arabia has been making large investments in the improvement of its airports’ infrastructure and expansion of capacity. The expansion is aimed, specially, at attending the large flow of tourists and businessmen that visit the nation.
The increase in capacity of Jeddah’s airport is one of the projects of the Saudi government, which plans to increase its working capacity from 13 million to 80 million passengers per year. At Jeddah land the majority of Muslim pilgrims who visit the cities of Mecca and Medina.
According to Gaca’s website, Saudi Arabia has 27 airports. Among those that are also receiving expansion works are the King Khaled International Airport, in Riad, the Prince Mohammad Bin Abdulaziz International Airport and others in the cities of Jazan, Bha, Qassim Arar, Al Jouf and Yanbu.
According to the website of magazine Arabian Business, the government’s program for expansion and construction of airports has a budget of US$ 10.65 billion.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
