Saudia Arabia wants to take the crown for the biggest and best airport that connects the East and West, announcing its plans to build the King Salman International Airport – expected to become one of the largest airports in the world.
The airport will cover 57 square kilometers (22 square miles) and will be able to accommodate 120 million travelers annually by 2030, and 185 million by 2050. It is also anticipated that the airport will be able to handle a whopping 3.5 million tons of cargo annually by 2050.
The new airport will encompass the current terminals of King Khalid International Airport (RUH), which opened in 1983 and will have six parallel runways (compared to the two at RUH). King Salman International will include 12 square kilometers of airport-related facilities, residential areas, recreation areas, retail outlets, and other logistics facilities.
No budget has yet been disclosed for the project, but Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), is building the expanded airport. The country is expected to benefit from this project by creating 103,000 direct and indirect jobs.