Saudi plans $4.5bn airport projects

Alaa Samman, director of business development at Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation, has said the kingdom plans to build a new airport in the holy city of Medina and an 'airport city' near Jeddah airport, Reuters has reported. The new Medina airport, estimated to cost between SR7bn and SR8bn, will increase traffic capacity to 8 million passengers a year from 3 million, while in Jeddah, authorities want to build a commercial centre that will include hotels, office buildings, housing units, malls and even a flight academy, Samman said. The kingdomd plans to launch tenders worth more than 17bn riyals ($4.5bn) this year for the two projects.