Prince Mohammed bin Abdulaziz International airport in Medina serves as the new gateway to the Muslim world’s second Holy City. In a milestone step, the facility opened as Saudi Arabia’s first privatised airport, as part of Gaca’s plans to privatise all 27 of the kingdom’s airports by 2020.

The GCC’s first airport expansion project developed using a public-private partnership (PPP) became operational following on-time completion of construction work in 2015.

The airport was developed by the Tibah consortium of TAV, Saudi Oger and Al-Rajhi Holding, which now operates the facility.

The project consists of a terminal covering 156,940 square metres, with 16 passenger boarding gates and 20 remote apron stands. The new terminal and airfield were built to the highest international standards and allow for an initial operating capacity of 8 million passengers a year.

Prince Mohammed bin Abdulaziz airport is the first airport to be given LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certification by the US Green Building Council in the Middle East and North Africa. In 2015, the airport won the Engineering News-Record’s Global Best Projects Award in the airports/ports category.

The timely completion of the airport expansion scheme set a precedent for the future adoption of the PPP model across industries in the region.