Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Civil Aviation (Gaca) has extended the bid deadline for the contract to build the new King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz airport in Jizan.

The submission date is now 9 April, an extension from the original deadline set for the first week in February.

Gaca has invited about 12 companies to submit prices for the tender. The contract will have an estimated value of $500m-plus. The airport will be located 30 kilometres away from Jizan Economic City (JEC).

The new airport will have the capacity to handle up to 2.4 million passengers a year. The work will involve building a three-storey passenger terminal, a control tower, air cargo zones and other facilities. The terminal will have 10 gates and a VIP lounge.

The Jizan scheme is part of Gaca’s plans to spend $10.66bn on building new airports until 2030. Gaca is planning further new airports at Al-Qasim and Abha.

In addition to new airports, Gaca is planning several major expansions to existing international airports. The airport company is currently evaluating bids for the contract to build the new Terminal 5 at King Khalid International airport in Riyadh.

Terminal 5 is part of the large expansion programme for King Khalid International, which will increase the airport’s annual capacity to about 24 million passengers from the current 14 million.