Saudi Shoura Council Urges GACA to Develop Low-Cost Airports Around Riyadh

Saudi Arabia is set to explore the feasibility of establishing low-cost airports around Riyadh, following a recommendation from the Kingdom’s Shoura Council. The Consultative Assembly has called on the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) to consider building and operating these airports, or offering them to the private sector under a build-operate-transfer model, according to a post on X.

The council also advised GACA to work with national carriers to increase domestic flights and diversify destinations to enhance transportation and tourism services. These initiatives align with the Kingdom’s aviation sector goals of increasing passenger numbers and expanding flight routes, supporting GACA’s vision of enabling Saudi leadership in aviation through customer-centric and digitally-enabled regulatory services.

Furthermore, the council emphasized the importance of activating the annual air freight target in accordance with the National Transport and Logistics Strategy.

In related news, King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh was recently recognized as one of the top three performing terminals in the Kingdom, based on GACA’s April report. The airport led the international terminal category for airports with over 15 million passengers annually, achieving an 82 percent compliance rate with GACA’s standards. The evaluation, based on 11 key criteria, aims to improve service quality and enhance the passenger experience.

Earlier in May, during the Future Aviation Forum in Riyadh, Abdulaziz Al-Dahmash, Vice President of GACA for Quality and Traveler Experience, stated that the Kingdom has set “very ambitious targets” for its aviation sector. These targets include tripling the number of passengers compared to 2019, handling 4.5 million tonnes of cargo, and establishing over 250 direct destinations from Saudi airports to global locations.

“Those key targets need enablers, and one of the key pillars is our passenger experience. We always say that the passenger comes first, so from that perspective, we started different programs from a regulatory standpoint,” Al-Dahmash told Arab News.