Airport cities taking flight in ME

King Khaled Airport in Riyadh

Despite the air travel industry being hit hard in the recession, the Middle East is expanding its air services dramatically with Saudi Arabia building 'airport cities' around its three main international airports, DubaiWorld's airport Al Maktoum International nearing completion and New Doha International Airport reportedly being expanded to cope with increasing traffic.

Airport cities in Saudi Arabia

In the Kingdom, the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) is reportedly already looking at proposals from numerous aviation firms to develop the land around Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam airports.

"We have had a lot of interest from airport operators and developers throughout the world; we have also contracted world-class operators from Frankfurt airport, Fraport, and Singapore Airport to support the operation and further development of international gateway airports in Jeddah, Riyadh, and Dammam.

"They will work with local management teams for six years," Engineer Abdullah Noor Rahimi, GACA president said speaking to Arabian Business.

"The process is underway; we have plans for huge commercial offices, malls, hotels, conference halls, and service agencies to be established inside the airport," he added.

"Each airport will be a separate city where people can live, shop, study, and attend international conferences, in addition to enjoying many other services. Accessibility is vital for these cities, and the size of the Kingdom means that surface transport is not a viable option for business travelers seeking to invest in new cities. Therefore, we are upgrading or contracting for the establishment of airports which will serve each of the economic cities."

Al Maktoum International work progressing

Meanwhile in Dubai, DubaiWorld's Al Maktoum International has seen its airport city continue growing in the face of the economic downturn. Rashed Bugaraa, COO of Dubai World Central's Residential City said, speaking to Emirates Business,

"The construction work is in progress and the project is shaping very well. Most of the work on the terminal building is already complete and the remaining will be finished by year end. There is no change in plans. Nothing has been put on hold. The milestones are as per schedule."

The first phase of the airport, a 75,000 square metre passenger terminal, is expected to be fully complete by mid-2010 with operations beginning in June.

However it appears the airport has fully escaped the recession - instead of the original size planned runways, the airport will have five.

Doha airport take-off delayed?

Finally, the opening of Doha International Airport has been pushed by to 2015 instead of 2011 in order, apparently, to cope with the fast growth in passenger traffic. This was, according to Zawaya, requested by Qatar Airways.

It shows the extent to which the entire Middle Eastern area is expanding their air-infrastructure, but what is more amazing that the airport construction is just a small segment in some of the most impressive city building in the world.

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