Saudi Jeddah Airport Announces Plan to Advance 6 Expansion Work Packages

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On September 22, Saudi Jeddah Airport Company announced the next phase of the expansion plan for King Abdulaziz International Airport, identifying 6 work packages that will soon enter the contracting market, covering airfield rehabilitation, a five-year construction framework, Terminal T3A, Terminal T1 optimization, fuel facilities, and Concourse C. Tendering and awarding for each work package will be advanced in phases, with airfield rehabilitation planned to start in the third quarter of 2026, the five-year construction framework planned to be launched in the fourth quarter, and the Terminal T3A project planned to enter the early contractor involvement stage in the first quarter of 2027.

The scope of works announced this time has been further broken down from the previous overall airport expansion plan to the specific construction and procurement level. The airfield works will cover the rehabilitation of infrastructure such as runways, taxiways, and aprons; the five-year construction framework is used to organize multiple facility types and sub-projects; T3A involves construction related to a new terminal; T1 optimization targets the operational capacity and facility upgrades of the existing terminal; the fuel facilities works correspond to the airport's aviation fuel storage and supply system; and the Concourse C works will further increase the terminal's boarding and passenger handling capacity. The supporting scope also includes hangars, airside facilities, supporting infrastructure, and utility networks.

In terms of timing, the 6 work packages will enter the market successively from 2026 to 2028. In addition to advancing airfield rehabilitation in the third quarter of 2026 and launching the five-year construction framework in the fourth quarter, the fuel facilities works are planned to be advanced in the second quarter of 2027, T1 optimization is planned to reach its implementation milestone in the fourth quarter of 2027, and Concourse C is planned to be advanced in the second quarter of 2028. T3A will adopt the early contractor involvement model, and Saudi Jeddah Airport Company encourages Saudi local contractors to form consortiums with overseas companies that have experience in building large international airports.

These work packages are part of the next phase of implementation of Jeddah Airport's long-term expansion plan. The previously disclosed master plan proposed investing about SAR 115 billion by 2031 to increase the airport's annual passenger handling capacity to 114 million passengers. The overall expansion scope includes new terminals, dozens of boarding gates, new taxiways and aprons, roads, utilities, baggage handling, and airport software systems, and also plans for a fourth runway and a new logistics zone. The new logistics zone covers an area of more than 3 square kilometers, with plans for customs and service facilities and warehouse space leased to enterprises, with overall phased implementation through around 2029.

The airport's existing expansion projects have already formed multiple construction lines. In 2024, Saudi Jeddah Airport Company awarded the South Terminal renovation contract to a consortium formed by Algihaz Contracting and Turkey's TAV, mainly serving Hajj and Umrah passengers; in the same year, Alstom won the contract for expanding the T1 terminal's Innovia automated people mover system, covering additional vehicles as well as upgrades to signaling, communications, and control systems. Surbana Jurong is currently also undertaking technical consulting and project management for more than 100 capital projects of Saudi Jeddah Airport Company, with the related projects valued at more than SAR 6 billion.

Airport passenger growth is also continuing to raise expansion demand. Saudi Jeddah Airport Company announced that in 2025 King Abdulaziz International Airport's passenger throughput reached 53.4 million; in the first quarter of 2026, it handled more than 14.8 million passengers and nearly 84,000 flights. After renovation, the airport's existing Terminal T4 has an annual handling capacity of 15 million passengers, mainly serving international low-cost carriers. As new routes and international passenger traffic continue to grow, the next phase of expansion will simultaneously address multiple bottlenecks, including terminal capacity, airside operations, fuel support, and passenger flows.

Among the 6 work packages in this round, T3A, Concourse C, and T1 optimization directly correspond to the expansion of passenger handling capacity, while airfield rehabilitation and fuel facilities belong to the airport's operational infrastructure, and the five-year construction framework will cover multiple subsequent construction tasks. After the project is further broken down from a single overall expansion concept into independently procurable work packages, subsequent contracting opportunities will extend to multiple fields such as terminal construction, runway and taxiway systems, mechanical and electrical works, utilities, fuel systems, baggage handling, smart airport systems, and specialized subcontracting.