Cairo Airport Company expects to award the contract for the $400m renovation of terminal two at Cairo International airport in the third quarter of 2010.

The design for terminal two is already complete and the renovation work will take three years to complete, according to a source at Cairo Airport Company.

In January, the deadline for submitting prequalification documents was extended from 7 February to to 28 February and the terms for prequalification were also eased to increase the number of potential bidders (MEED 22:1:10).

Cairo Airport Company will move airlines from terminal two to terminal one while the renovation takes place.

Greek national carrier Olympic Airlines was the latest to move to terminal one last week, says the source. Most airlines will have moved to terminal one by the end of March.

Once the work on terminal two is complete, the airlines will be moved back, and renovation work on terminal one will begin.

The work at the airport also includes the construction of another runway, scheduled to open at the end of 2010, and two aircraft stands to accommodate the A380 aircraft.

Passenger capacity at terminal two was 3.5 million passengers a year but this is set to almost double to 7 million once the renovation is complete.

Cairo Airport Company has also started the planning a 2-million-square-metre residential development called Air City, adjacent to the airport.

Turkey’s TAV completed construction of the airport’s third terminal in April 2009. It has capacity of 22 million passengers a year, making it one of the largest terminals in North Africa.