Bayanat Airports, part of the Bayanat Engineering Group, a leader in air traffic management systems, is showcasing its expertise at an ongoing infrastructure event in Jeddah.

The Saudi Infrastructure Forum and Exhibition opened yesterday (December 11) and will run until December 14.

George Hannouche, CEO of Abu Dhabi-based Bayanat Airports Engineering and Supplies, said the company was studying having a presence in Saudi Arabia as part of its larger expansion programme in the Middle East.

The Arab world's leading aviation expert said Bayanat Airports has carried out Dh300 million ($81.6 million) worth projects for Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Fujairah airports in the UAE and Doha (Qatar) airport over the years.

Bayanat Airports’ stand at the forum will have on display models of the projects it completed and those currently under execution in the region.

Hannouche said Saudi Arabia offers tremendous growth opportunities in aviation infrastructure in the coming years given the massive investments in airports expansion.

GCC airports, which, according to the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), are running at an average 92 per cent capacity, while it is 130 per cent in Saudi Arabia, he pointed out.

Jeddah and Madinah airports in the kingdom are the subject of a combined $20 billion facelift up to 2020. By 2014, the first expansion phases should be complete to handle up to 30 million and eight million passengers per year, respectively.

The $7.2 billion expansion and development of King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA) in Jeddah will raise the airport's annual capacity to 30 million passengers.

There are 26 domestic airports in Saudi Arabia and four international airports and General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) plans to expand and build 28 airports in the next 20 years, a statement said.

Plans are underway by GACA to spend between $10 billion to $15 billion on building, developing and upgrading airports by 2020, in co-operation with private investors.

Jeddah airport is designed to accommodate the world’s largest aircraft, including A380s and increase the airport’s annual capacity to 80 million passengers a year by 2035, according to the statement.

GACA plans to revamp the Madinah airport to increase its passenger handling capacity to 14 million passengers a year. The project could cost a total of $2.4 billion to develop. It will be the first airport project to be developed on a public-private partnership (PPP) basis.

Abha Airport project involves a massive expansion which envisages five million passengers per annum. The construction will start in 2012. Expansion of Qurayyat airport, on the Saudi Jordanian border, will be completed end of 2012.

King Khaled International Airport in Riyadh is due for expansion aimed at increasing the airport's annual capacity from 14 to 25 million passengers.

GACA is overhauling several domestic airports, at a cost of $80 million, in Al Wajih, Arar, Al Gurayat, Al Qasim, Hail, Najran, and Taif. Saudi Arabia’s three main international airports in Jeddah, Riyadh, and Dammam are planned to be turned into ‘airport cities’. – TradeArabia News Service