Kuwait is preparing for the soft opening of the under-construction temporary passenger terminal at Kuwait International airport.

MEED understands the standard operational readiness and airport transfer (Orat) process for the airport has started.

An Orat programme involves developing required procedures and processes, and testing all facilities, systems and machinery prior to the opening of an airport.

According to sources with knowledge of the project, the client, Kuwait’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), could also be considering converting the terminal into a permanent facility.

A team comprising Turkey’s Cengiz Insaat Sanayi Ve Ticaret and the local First Kuwaiti General Trading & Contracting Company won the KD52.8m ($174m) contract for the construction and maintenance of the temporary passenger terminal at Kuwait International in August 2016.

DGCA has earlier indicated that the temporary facility is to be completed within 450 days of the signing of the contract.

The temporary passenger support terminal has a capacity to handle up to 4.5 million passengers a year. It is expected to augment the existing terminal, which has been operating beyond capacity for years, until the under-construction Terminal 2 becomes operational sometime between 2020 and 2022.

MEED earlier reported that Kuwait International processed 13.7 million passengers in 2017, a rise of 17.1 per cent over the figure reported in 2016.

This volume of passenger traffic is nearly three times the design capacity of the existing passenger terminal at the airport.

The $4.3bn Terminal 2, which was awarded in 2016 to a team comprising Turkey’s Limak Holding and the local Kharafi National, has a design capacity of 25 million passengers annually and will replace the existing terminal.