US-based Aecom has been awarded a contract to provide project management consultancy (PMC) services for Neom International airport (NIA).

Aecom’s multi-year contract includes project management for masterplanning, design and construction services, through to testing, commissioning, and operational readiness, activation and transition (ORAT).

MEED reported in 2021 that Neom was seeking consultants to provide PMC services for the airport.

The first phase of the airport is planned to open in 2025 and will have the capacity to handle 25 million passengers a year. A second phase could take the capacity up to 50 million passengers a year. There is an aspiration for the airport to become the largest in the world, with a capacity of 100 million passengers a year.

The airport will be inland, close to the Tabuk end of the 170-kilometre-long Line development. Neom International airport is separate from the Neom Bay airport, which started receiving commercial flights in 2019.

Aecom has been awarded other major roles at Neom. In 2020, it confirmed that it had been appointed to design the transport and utilities backbone infrastructure, known as the Spine, which runs alongside The Line buildings.

MEED’s April 2023 special report on Saudi Arabia includes:

> ECONOMY: Riyadh steps up the Vision 2030 tempo
> CONSTRUCTION: Saudi construction project ramp-up accelerates
> UPSTREAM: Aramco slated to escalate upstream spending
> DOWNSTREAM: Petchems ambitions define Saudi downstream
> POWER: Saudi Arabia reinvigorates power sector
> WATER: Saudi water begins next growth phase
> BANKING: Saudi banks bid to keep ahead of the pack