Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdul-aziz, the deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation and inspector general, yesterday laid the foundation stone for the expansion of Tabuk regional airport and instructed authorities to carry out the project as quickly as possible. Abdullah Ruhaimy, chairman of the Civil Aviation Corporation, briefed the crown prince on the project, which is designed to accommodate the growing number of passengers in the region. The project will increase the airport's present area of 33,779 square meters by 12,000 square meters, Ruhaimy said, adding that the airport would have new arrival and departure lounges and jet bridges to link the passengers from the gate to the plane. He described Tabuk airport as the fourth largest regional airport in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and put the annual growth rate of its passengers at 4.5 percent. The airport currently serves 60 domestic flights daily. The expansion work includes establishment of new runways, aircraft parking facilities, maintenance workshops, control tower, cargo service building, an electricity plant and parking for 900 vehicles. "There will be additional parking facilities for two large aircraft and three medium aircraft," he said. There are 27 domestic and three international airports in the Kingdom, which were constructed at a total cost of more than SR50 billion. King Fahd International Airport in Dammam is the largest. The Civil Aviation Corporation has already launched a $1.5 billion expansion for Jeddah's King Abdul Aziz International Airport designed to accommodate the world's largest aircraft, including A380s and will increase the airport's annual capacity to 21 million passengers.
