Saudia Aerospace Engineering Industries (SAEI) has awarded the consortium led by Turkey’s TAV Construction the estimated $800m contract to build its aircraft maintenance, repair and operation (MRO) facility at the King Abdulaziz International airport in Jeddah.

“Today we celebrate the award of the SAEI aircraft maintenance hangars project at the Jeddah King Abdulaziz International airport,” says Yusuf Akcayoglu, Gulf regional director, TAV Construction.

The local Al-Rajhi Holding and the UAE/Australian Al-Habtoor Leighton Group are the two other members of the consortium. “We have joined forces with Al-Rajhi Holding, our strategic partner in the kingdom and Habtoor Leighton Group, a leading contracting group to establish the winning team,” says Akcayoglu.  “Our teams have put in tremendous effort at the tendering stage of this project. We are delighted that our proposal was selected as the most acceptable one.”

The consortium submitted the lowest bid for the contract in November last year.  The other commercial offers were from Cyprus-based Joannou & Paraskevaides, Saudi Binladin Group, the local El-Seif Engineering Contracting, and the local Almabani with Greece’s Aktor.

The phase 1 works include the design and building of 11 aircraft maintenance hangars, ancillary buildings, an administration building, a closed carpark and aircraft parking aprons.

• Heavy maintenance hangars
• Line maintenance hangars
• Paint hangars
• Wash hangars
• Aircraft maintenance ahops
• Aircraft component maintenance shops
• Warehouse (supply chain)
• Administration
• Mosque
• Fire protection tanks and house
• Ground service maintenance building
• Surface parking
• Parking structure
• Roads
• Aprons
• Taxiways
• External works

Phase 1 will be completed in 900 days and when finished, the hangars will be one of the largest MRO facilities in the region.  It is designed to meet the MRO business needs for the next 20 years of operation. The facility has been designed to allow phased construction to accommodate future capacity expansion requirements.

The project is the latest win for TAV in Saudi Arabia. In 2011, it was selected to develop Medina airport as a public-private partnership (PPP). “The SAEI scheme will be our second project in the country and we look forward to continuing our exceptional performance in the kingdom and cement our position ın Saudi Arabia for a long term,” says Akcayoglu.