Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (Gaca) said it plans to tender the second cargo operator’s licence for the King Khaled International Airport (KKIA) in Riyadh in February.

A preliminary meeting with interested bidders has been concluded, Abdulrahman al-Mubarak, Cargo Concession Department director at Gaca, said in a statement.

The tender is open to foreign joint stock companies and all international air cargo handling companies. The launch of the request for prequalification (RFP) in February is meant to allow interested bidders enough time to submit their offers, according to Al-Mubarak.

The appointment of a second air cargo operator at the kingdom’s busiest airport is in line with the broad plan to privatise the kingdom’s airport services and improve their operational efficiency. The plan includes “raising the quality service levels, reduction of cost and the provision of alternative solutions to the public, in addition to providing job opportunities for Saudi citizens.”

Saudi Arabia said it is aiming to be among the world’s top 25 in the annual Logistics Performance Index (LPI) by 2030. The kingdom ranked 52^nd in the 2016 index.

Other plans for the airport include the construction of a cargo village that “will provide world class logistics services.”

In October 2016, France’s Lagardere Group has been awarded a contract to operate the duty free shops at the two international terminals at the KKIA.

The Riyadh airport processed more than 22 million passengers in 2015, which is nearly twice its capacity.

Terminals 1 and 2 at the Riyadh airport cater to international flights, while Terminal 3 caters to domestic flights. Terminal 4 is unused and Terminal 5 was completed in 2015 and began soft operations in June.

The Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) operates and manages Terminal 5.  The rest of the terminals are operated by the Riyadh Airport Company (RAC), a subsidiary of Gaca.

The contract for the upgrade of Terminal 3 and Terminal 4 are understood to be still on hold.

A sixth terminal is planned once the redevelopment work on the first four has been completed.