DAMMAM — King Fahd International Airport (KFIA) said it handled in 2014 more than 8.49 million passengers, a growth rate of 12 percent, beating competitor airports in the region for the second consecutive year. In the same year international traffic increased by 10 percent and now accounts for more than half of KFIA's passenger traffic, with the addition of new airlines or increased services from existing airlines such as Lufthansa, Philippine Airlines and Jet Airways to Europe, southeast Asia and south Asia. During the first quarter of 2015, KFIA said international traffic grew by over 16 percent as the airport continues to introduce more direct flight connections to Asia and Europe. Yousef Al-Dhahri, director-general of KFIA, said: “The momentum continues to accelerate and in the first quarter of 2015 KFIA achieved a growth rate of 18.5 percent, handling over 2.4 million passengers. “This is the highest number of passengers handled in a single quarter in KFIA's history and the airport is on track to welcome more than 9 million passengers this year. “KFIA and the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) are working together to further improve connectivity in KFIA to respond to the growing traffic with the support of the Eastern Province Municipality and leading Saudi businesses in the region.” The airport continues to grow from strength to strength, anchored by a management and operational partnership with the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) and Changi Airports International (CAI). This cooperation enabled KFIA to achieve growth in the number of airlines, passenger traffic and city links. KFIA is served by 35 airlines and has added 15 new destinations since 2008 to develop a global network of 65 cities. To improve its air cargo services, KFIA inaugurated the new multi-modal Cargo Village facility on Apr. 6, with DHL Express, NAQEL, SMSA Express, TNT and UPS operating as anchor tenants. Additional capacity is coming online and will assist airlines operating into the Kingdom. Located 20 kilometers northwest of Dammam, KFIA serves the entire eastern region of the Kingdom, mainly Dammam, Dhahran, Al-Khobar, Qatif and Ras Tanura, while also covering the fast developing city of Jubail and its cluster of industrial complexes.
