No new Makkah airport on radar

Saudi Arabia has no plans to build a new international airport in Makkah. The General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA) Tuesday put an end to the longstanding debate over the building of a new international airport in Makkah, resolving to reject all proposals. Makkah Governor Prince Khalid Al Faisal also confirmed this while speaking to Gulf News, denying that there is any government plan to establish an airport in Makkah. "Jeddah's King Abdul Aziz International Airport and the Islamic Port would continue to serve as the air and sea entry points to the holy city. Hence, we have no plan to set up a new airport in Makkah," he said. GACA has cited three major reasons for rejecting the proposals for the Makkah airport. "First of all, we considered the general principle that any airport shall be away from the city centre. Secondly, the geographical features of Makkah, which is predominantly in a mountainous region, and thirdly, its proximity to the Jeddah airport," according to the Authority sources. Detailed discussion It is noteworthy that the Saudi Shura Council, in a unanimous decision adopted in April last year, agreed to set up an international airport outside Makkah. In a statement after the session, Secretary General of the Council Mohammad Al Gamdi said the decision to set up an airport in Makkah was taken after detailed discussions on the comments and observations made by the council's Transport, Communications and Information Technology Committee. He had also noted the Council suggested that the proposed international airport in the Makkah region be located outside the Haram area to allow both Muslims and non-Muslims to travel to the region. Several prominent government officials have also backed the move as it would benefit more than two million Haj pilgrims and millions of Umrah pilgrims throughout the nine-month Umrah season. Addressing a scientific forum on linking Makkah with the rest of the world in Jeddah on Tuesday, Dr Ali Al Zahrani, director of planning at GACA, said that Madinah's Prince Mohammad International Airport does not have the capacity to accommodate the huge number of Haj and Umrah pilgrims arriving at Islam's second holiest city. Main hub "A new airport project will be awarded within the coming few weeks. This would be the first airport project to be fully awarded to the private sector on the basis of Build, Operate and Own. There would be a total linking between the airports of Madinah and Jeddah," he said. According to Al Zahrani, the future vision of GACA is that the Jeddah airport will be the main hub of the Saudi Arabian aviation industry, and also that it would link Makkah with the rest of the world. "We will have three main airports and then we would work on establishing as many as 25 aviation companies," he said, adding that the new Jeddah airport would consist of three phases. The ongoing works of the first phase can accommodate 18 million passengers annually when it is completed in 2014. From / gulfnews.