King Salman inaugurates new Jeddah airport

Saudi Arabia's King Salman inaugurated the new King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA) terminal 1 in Jeddah on Tuesday.

KAIA, which spans on 105 square meters, is being developed in three phases. The first phase of the KAIA expansion will handle 30 million passengers annually. The second and third phases will serve 50 million and 80 million passengers annually by 2025 and 2035, respectively.

The new facility comprises a 670,000 square meter passenger terminal complex. The number of services counters total 220, in addition to 80 self-service machines for passenger use, with 46 gates for international and domestic flights.

The airport began experimental operations in May 2019 and the first international flight was flown by Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) last month.