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New airport would serve as base for new airline planned by country’s sovereign wealth fund
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Kingdom’s goal is to attract 100m tourists a year by 2030
Saudi Arabia is considering building a new airport that would serve as a base for a new airline the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund is planning to launch as it targets an increase in tourist arrivals, Bloomberg reported.
Citing people familiar with the matter, the report said the airport is being planned in Riyadh and will cater to the new airline being planned by the $430-billion Public Investment Fund.
The fund said earlier this year it plans to invest in aviation to help capture the tourist boom envisioned by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. The new airline would serve tourists and business travelers, while existing flag carrier Saudia would focus on religious tourism from its base in Jeddah, Bloomberg said, citing the people who requested anonymity.
The PIF is also exploring the idea of investing billions in a new international airport in Riyadh, according to the people. The size of the facility and timeline for its construction haven’t been set and the PIF could decide not to move ahead with those plans, Bloomberg reported.
A spokesman for the fund declined to comment on the plans for a new airport in Riyadh, the report said. He referred to earlier commitments to invest in the sector and to study establishing a new company to “support the aviation sector aspirations locally and regionally.”
The project would further Saudi Arabia’s goal to attract 100 million tourists a year by 2030, a six-fold increase from 2019. Opening up the country to visitors is a key part of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s strategy to diversify the economy away from a reliance on oil sales.
The crown prince’s economic transformation plan has identified Islamic pilgrimage as a key source of non-oil revenue. Officials want to attract 30 million religious travelers per year by 2030, Bloomberg report said. Religious tourism, which also includes year-round pilgrimages to Mecca, brought in more than $20 billion in 2018, equivalent to 2.7% of GDP.