First flight lands at Al-Ola airport

The airport in Al-Ola began operations Monday when the first flight from Riyadh landed at the Prince Abdul Majeed bin Abdul Aziz Airport. The flight, carrying 66 passengers, was welcomed by officials and citizens. The new airport will have two weekly flights from Riyadh. Chairman of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities Prince Sultan bin Salman, General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA) President Faisal Al-Sughair, Saudi Arabian Airlines Company (Saudia) Director General Khaled Al-Molhem and other officials were at the airport to welcome the flight. Speaking to the press, Al-Sughair said the airport was part of a new generation of airports GACA was constructing, refurbishing and modernizing. He recalled that Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Airport in Tabuk started operations in the middle of this year while Najran’s new airport began operations last month. "These new airports will ensure the comfort of passengers and will cope with increasing number of travelers between Saudi cities," he said. Al-Sughair said work on the construction of Prince Abdul Majeed bin Abdul Aziz Airport began in 2008 and was completed in the middle of last year. He explained that the airport was designed to accommodate more than 100,000 passengers annually from four daily flights. He said the airport, situated to the southeast of Al-Ola region about 50 km from the historic site of Madain Saleh, has a total area of more than 13 million sq. m. and will serve the region and the other neighboring areas within a radius of 250 km. Al-Sughair said the main lounge was built on an area of 37500 sq. m. and the main runway is 3,050 meters long and 60 meters wide. He said the airfield, built on an area of 16,800 sq. m. can accommodate three giant aircraft at the same time. Al-Sughair said other facilities include: A building to accommodate rescue and fire-fighting personnel in addition  to the security guards with an area of 564 sq. m. and another building for services occupying an area of 1,028 sq. m.