Jeddah’s KAIA is on course to achieve its strategic targets: senior official

Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport has served over 35 million passengers over 207,000 flights from January to October, according to a senior official.

Speaking at the Annual Strategic Forum of Jeddah Airports Co. in King Abdullah Economic City on Nov. 18, JEDCO CEO Ayman Abdulaziz Abu Abat said that KAIA had also served 6.5 million pilgrims besides shipping 16.7 million luggage.

He highlighted that during the Hajj season alone, the airport served over 7.8 million passengers on over 51,000 flights, shipping 10.6 million luggage and around 1 million Zamzam water bottles.

During the forum, JEDCO Chairman Raed Al-Mudaiheem also announced that KAIA was steadily moving toward its strategic plan to connect 150 cities by 2030.

Al-Mudaiheem said the airport followed a clear plan to serve 114 million passengers and increase non-aeronautical income to 45 percent of the total revenues by 2030.

He added that this initiative is an extension of the support provided to the sector by King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.

He added that the forum was also instrumental in boosting airport operations in line with the objectives of the National Transport and Logistics Strategy.

Jeddah Vice Gov. Trad bin Fahad Al-Sharif inaugurated the strategic meeting that held several sessions to revisit the targets and review the achievements to develop new recommendations.

Al-Mudaiheem also highlighted the growing importance of promoting entrepreneurship and teamwork among government entities and other stakeholders to ensure Jeddah International Airport achieves top standards of aviation operations.

The forum also aimed to review JEDCO’s 2024 action plan in a way that contributes to developing operational efficiency and improving the passengers’ experience at the airport.

It also contributed to coordinating and aligning the stakeholders at the airport.

The three-day event included several workshops to discuss ways to turn challenges into opportunities by reviewing the most important results achieved by the company in 2023.