Bahrain Airport Company has invited firms to bid by 5 December for the contract to develop the operational concept of lounges at Bahrain International airport’s new terminal.

The firm has awarded several contracts over the past week as construction work on the new terminal approaches its final stage.

Last week, France’s Egis International won the $4.72m contract to supervise the design and construction of a cargo express village at the airport.

Bahrain Airport Company also awarded consultancy firm Gulf Engineering House the contract to design and supervise the renovation of the Civil Aviation Affairs building at Bahrain International.

The project will convert the building into a “state-of-the-art” private aviation terminal.

The revamped facility is expected to be completed by 2020.

The client is also evaluating bids for the contract to develop and operate an airport hotel.

According to the firm’s CEO, Mohamed bin Falah, two bids were received for the contract. He did not disclose when they expect to award the contract.

The planned hotel is part of Bahrain’s ongoing airport modernisation programme that comprises the construction of a new passenger terminal, fuel farm and multi-storey car parks, among others.

Construction work on the $1.1bn passenger terminal at Bahrain International airport is progressing according to schedule, with the project’s first phase expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2019.

The first phase of the construction works entails 95 per cent of the entire project. It includes the operational readiness and airport transfer (ORAT) process, which typically takes six to seven months.

Germany’s Fraport signed a 32-month ORAT contract with Bahrain Airport Company in April 2017.

MEED understands the existing passenger terminal at Bahrain International will be demolished once the expanded airport is 80 per cent complete.

A team of UAE-based Arabtec and Turkey’s TAV Airports won the Bahrain airport expansion contract in January 2016. Construction work began in April of that year.

An estimated 70 per cent of the scheme is being funded by the GCC Fund, primarily by the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development. The rest is being provided by the Bahraini government.

Bahrain expects the under-construction terminal, designed to handle 14 million passengers annually, to help offer better services for the next 15 to 20 years.

A new airport on reclaimed land is also being planned.