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The new airport is to be a base for the new airline that the Public Investment Fund is looking to launch to counter regional carriers
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Riyadh is already served by the King Khalid International Airport
Saudi Arabia is planning to build a new airport in its capital city Riyadh, said local reports on Friday, July 9.
The airport is expected to serve as a base for the new airline that the country’s sovereign Public Investment Fund is looking to launch to counter regional carriers like Emirates and Qatar Airways.
Riyadh is already served by the King Khalid International Airport. However, PIF is still planning this new airport as it eyes a vast increase in tourist arrivals via the new airline.
The $430-billion fund said earlier this year that it planned to invest in aviation to help capture the tourism boom envisioned by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.
The new airline would serve tourists and business travelers, while the Saudi Arabian Airlines or Saudia, the national carrier, would focus on religious tourism from its base in Jeddah, said the local reports.
The PIF is reportedly exploring the idea ahead of investing billions of dollars in the new international airport in Riyadh.
PIF is said to have not yet arrived at a figure when it comes to the size of the facility. The timeline for the new airport’s construction has also not been set, said the reports.
The sovereign fund could simply scrap the airport at the planning stage if it does not appear to be panning out.
The project is expected to further the Saudi goal to attract 100 million tourists a year by 2030, a sixfold increase from 2019.
The size of the Saudi travel and tourism market stood at $46.9 billion in 2019, but was hit badly by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The resulting lockdowns and security measures severely hit international Hajj tourism, which accounts for around 8% of Saudi Arabia’s annual GDP.
