80 million passengers in the year 2035.

With an extremely growing aviation market in the Middle East, investing in larger and more modern terminals for King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA) is a must. As the demand is growing with amazing numbers, that means that also the capacity must increase. Jeddah Airport is nowadays already a large airport for domestic passengers and pilgrim passengers. But as their mission changes into a wider and more international target group, also the airport layout can change into an international airport and become a pull factor for the region.

•   The three terminals will be linked with each other by an automatic people mover (APM). 

KAIA has functioned as the main gateway to the holy cities of Mekka and Medina Located in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A new vision which includes aviation will be created in a new economic tool. This tool includes a SA 200 billion investment within five years by the General Authority of General Aviation (GACA) over 27 airport within the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. 27 billion SA will be reserved for the development of the new south terminal including infrastructure and other facilities. the Saudi Arabia Government sees the need to invest in other economic drivers such as Aviation to lose the dependency of fossil fuels en become a world player. By rebuilding Jeddah airport an international hub can be created. This focus on being an international hub will create 1000 direct and a 1000 indirect jobs per million passengers that make use of Jeddah. This will make Jeddah an very important economic center within in the region Jeddah. Not only will it create jobs but it will also create economic growth and will attract even more businesses to the region. 

Jeddah airport has a very strong market position but is in a very competitive market position. The Middle East is the center point of the BRIC countries. This will mean that an airport like Jeddah will be within reach of 1/3 of the world’s population within 6 hours and therefore has a rich catchment area. Jeddah Airport van also be a connecting link between the EU and Asia and in the future our research team sees the promising trade between Africa and Asia. These are the factors that will give Jeddah a regional pull factor and a strong market position. But Saudi Arabia is not the only country within the region of the Middle East that is exploiting these factors to stimulate their economies. Examples suchs as Doha, Dubai, Cairo, Istanbul and Abu Dhabi are also improving their airport infrastructure and the connecting catchment areas. In order to keep competing with this competition an investment is nessecary