The Governor of Asir receives the Assistant to GACA President for Airports and is briefed about latest development of Abha Regional Airport Project

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His Royal Highness Prince Faisal bin Khalid bin Abdul-Aziz, Governor of Asir region received a delegation from the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA), headed by H.E. Assistant to GACA President for Airports Eng. Tariq Abdul-Jabbar, accompanied by the General Manager of Southern Airports, Mr. Fahad Aladwani and the General Manager of Engineering Services at GACA Eng. Abdullah Alzahrani, this in order to  monitor the work progress in the development of Abha regional Airport project and what have been achieved in the project over the last period.
In the beginning of the meeting, HRH welcomed the Assistant to GACA President for Airports and his accompanying delegation, stressing on the vital role of the civil aviation sector and its contribution to the nation economy.  HRH the Governor of Asir appreciated the airport project which will have a dramatic impact in promoting tourism in the region in addition to providing the best services in the air transport market to the people of the region.  He wished everyone a continuous success.
For his part Eng. Tariq Abdul-Jabbar expressed his thanks and appreciation to His Highness the Governor of Asir for receiving him, and for providing sound advice to the delegation.  He pointed out that GACA is undertaking a set of development projects in domestic, regional and international airports to keep pace with the continued growth in passenger traffic in many cities around the Kingdom.  Also to prepare and develop a sound civil aviation infrastructure to keep pace with the Kingdom Vision 2030.  The development of Abha regional airport project is among those development projects that represent an essential pillar of the development process in the Kingdom, which is keen on achieving in various cities and provinces.  This to achieve GACA strategy on operating the airport on hub basis to serve the southern region, rather than the limited regional operation in the past.  Keeping in mind that the city of Abha is a tourist destination from inside the Kingdom, as well as neighboring countries.  He mentioned that there is a continuous monitoring of the project by H.E. the Minister of Transport and Chairman of GACA Mr. Sulaiman Al Hamdan and his instructions that the project be completed according to the highest standards and quality.
Abdul-Jabbar also confirmed that GACA was keen to improve the design and operational efficiency of Abha regional airport project to achieve its objectives.  He mentioned that GACA conducted a valued engineering study of the project and adjusted the design accordingly to meet the desired purpose.
The first phase of the airport development includes a new passenger terminal, in addition to eleven jet ways, car parking facility that can accommodate 3000 vehicles and a mosque with a capacity of one thousand worshipers.  In addition to Meteorology and Environmental Protection buildings, plus a building for airport administration, as well air navigation and maintenance buildings.  The project will be implemented in three phases, where it can eventually accommodate 13 million passenger annually and effort is made for the project to be completed in its expected time frame.
Abha regional airport development will consist of three phases, with the first phase ending in 2018 with an annual capacity of seven million passengers.  It will have eleven jet ways and car parking facility that can accommodate up to 3000 vehicles.  In the second phase the passenger’s capacity will be increased to reach nine million and the number of Jet ways will go up to twenty-four, while the car parking facility will be set up to accommodate 6000 vehicles.  In the airport third and final stage the passenger capacity will increase to thirteen million, while the number of jet ways will increase to thirty-six and the parking facility will have a maximum capacity of 10000 vehicles.
It is worth mentioning that Abha regional airport is part of a project to improve and renew runways in some of the domestic airports in its second phase.  The project work will also include the rehabilitation and development of some aviation facilities, such as the total rehabilitation of the runway in order to raise its technical and operational efficiency.  This is in addition to work on the taxiways and aircraft parking bays including electrical and civil work.  Also within the project a new aircraft parking bay will be created that will be suited for eight aircrafts.
GACA is currently working on accelerating the pace of work on these projects to cope with the increasing growth in the number of passengers and the growth of air traffic by airlines and airfreights alike.  All this to keep pace with economic and urban growth of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as well as keeping up with the traveling public aspirations, needs and the ability to accelerate their travel procedures and provide them with all the services needed in all of the Kingdom’s domestic and international airports.