Work on the project to modernise King Khalid International Airport (KKIA) in Riyadh will start soon after this Haj season, a senior official of Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) has said.

The new project will provide a facelift of KKIA with its four terminals having new architectural designs, Mohammed Al-Shatwi, vice president of GACA for financial affairs, was quoted as saying in a Saudi Gazette report.

A modern terminal at the airport for domestic flights is already completed, he said. The Riyadh airport handled 22.5 million passengers in 2016, up 0.9 per cent year-on-year.

Al Shatwi said the new state-of-the-art King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA) in Jeddah will be launched by the second half of 2018. Singapore's Changi Airport Group has been awarded the contract to manage the airport for 20 years, he added.

Saudi Arabia's airport privatisation programme will cover all airports in the kingdom and they would be converted into companies to improve services, he said in the report.

The proposed airport companies will be fully owned by Saudi Civil Aviation Holding, which will be in charge of airport operations. The holding company will be fully owned by the Public Investment Fund (PIF).

Al Shatwi said the privatisation would contribute to expansion of airports without government spending and increase job opportunities for Saudis.

Earlier, Abdul Hakeem Al Tamimi, president of GACA, said the main objective of the privatisation move is to improve services being rendered to passengers and make targeted sectors profitable.

He said the King Abdulaziz Airport project in Jeddah is a top priority for the kingdom.