Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (Gaca) has yet to retender the contract for the operation and management of Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International airport, following the termination last month of the 20-year contract it awarded in April 2017 to Changi Airports Saudi Arabia.

Gaca said it plans to shortly conduct a public tender for the contract, days after it notified Singapore-based Changi Airports International (CAI), the main shareholder in Changi Airports Saudi Arabia, of the termination.

According to sources familiar with the contract, which has been tendered twice, the new tender “could exclude some parts of the previous scope [of work]”.

Asked if it intends to participate in a new tender,  CAI spokesperson See Ngee Muoy told MEED that the firm will discuss the termination and transition with Gaca and “could not make further comments on KAIA [King Abdulaziz International airport] or projects connected to KAIA".

MEED understands other potential bidders for the contract are France-based Aeroports de Paris Management (ADPM) and Malaysia Airports Holdings.

CAI earlier said in a statement that Gaca “has chosen to terminate the agreement for the operation and management of the new King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA) …in accordance with the concession agreement which is to terminate for convenience.” This means Gaca issued the termination by giving notice and without assigning any reason.

Gaca said it will go ahead with the airport's soft opening in May this year as planned, starting with six gates catering to domestic flights.

King Abdulaziz International airport is Saudi Arabia’s largest airport in terms of passenger traffic, handling 31.15 million passengers in 2016, a 3.5 per cent increase on 2015.

Gaca previously said the new airport will be operational shortly before the hajj season commences this year.

The airport redevelopment began in 2010 when Gaca awarded local Saudi Binladin Group two contracts worth a combined $7.2bn for the overhaul of the existing airport terminal and the construction of a new one. The new terminal has a design capacity of 30 million passengers annually.