Announcing plans to build King Salman International Airport in Riyadh
6 runways to be built on a 57km2 site
The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, has announced plans to build ‘King Salman International Airport’, an extremely large airport with six runways in the capital, Riyadh.
According to Reuters on the 28th (local time), the Saudi sovereign wealth fund (PIF) led by Crown Prince bin Salman explained that King Salman International Airport could handle 120 million passengers a year by 2030.
King Salman International Airport will be built on a site spanning 57 square kilometers, including the existing King Khalid International Airport, and will have six runways.
In the case of Incheon International Airport, Korea’s ‘central airport’, it currently operates three runways, and the fourth phase of the construction project, including the construction of the fourth runway, is being built with the aim of to be completed in 2024.
By 2050, King Salman International Airport plans to have the capacity to handle 185 million passengers and 3.5 million tons of cargo per year and create 103,000 direct and indirect jobs. The SPA news agency announced that plans to build the King Salman International Airport have been prepared as part of an effort to make Saudi Arabia an international transport and logistics hub in line with Saudi Vision 2030, an economic diversification policy.
It is also in line with the government’s plan to develop Riyadh into one of the world’s top 10 economic cities, and will also help increase Riyadh’s population to 15 to 20 million by 2030.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is establishing a second national airline, RIA, to compete with Dubai Emirates and Qatar Airways, who are strong players in the Middle East aviation market, and are expected to use King Salman International Airport as a base for RIA.
Jang Ji-min, Hankyung.com guest reporter newsinfo@hankyung.com
