Saudi Arabia has today announced a new airport in open in the Kingdom’s capital city, Riyadh.

The new airport os expected to be named King Salman International Airport and is expected to accomodate 185 million passengers by 2050.

King Salman Airport will cover a land area of 57 kms and will feature 6 parallel runways.

Source: https://www.arabianbusiness.com/abnews/ ... al-airport

Was wondering when this announcement would come. The current airport clearly wouldn’t have been able to meet the needs of RIA. Reminds me of QR and old Doha Airport, build up the airline whilst the new airport is built and move over with a flashy new terminal. Can’t wait to see the renders!

Too bad EY never realised those ambitions.

xwb777 wrote:

Saudi Arabia has today announced a new airport in open in the Kingdom’s capital city, Riyadh.

The new airport os expected to be named King Salman International Airport and is expected to accomodate 185 million passengers by 2050.

King Salman Airport will cover a land area of 57 kms and will feature 6 parallel runways.

Source: https://www.arabianbusiness.com/abnews/ ... al-airport

185 million passengers.

Lmao.

I know you could get your hands chopped off for smoking grass out there but someone is smoking some sort of desert bush (and they ain't smoking pole, since that will get you beheaded too).

If next door Africa develops further with more people becoming prosperous and entering middle class, 185 million a year by 2050 is quit achievable. Chances are by 2050, we will be flying a lot faster so more passenger numbers is entirely feasible.

OceanAir wrote:

185 million passengers.

Lmao.

I know you could get your hands chopped off for smoking grass out there but someone is smoking some sort of desert bush (and they ain't smoking pole, since that will get
you beheaded too).

Just telling the boss what he wants to hear.

OceanAir wrote:

185 million passengers.

Lmao.

I know you could get your hands chopped off for smoking grass out there but someone is smoking some sort of desert bush (and they ain't smoking pole, since that will get you beheaded too).

I get your point.

But the article said 185 million by 2050, it is 27 years away, so I would not laugh as loud as you did. I don't think it is realistic to aim for 185 million, but in the extremely lucky ways, it is possible to achieve such figure if Russian air spaces are still heavily restricted in coming decades, or key Central Asia involved in conflicts that traffic had to be shifted via ME. Plus Saudi Arabia has tons more money now to subsidise aviation which was not possible few years back. Moreover, key Muslim countries like Indonesia will get richer in one decade to two decades time with its newly discovered resources that is key for green industry, its connection to Europe and North Africa will see huge jump possibly in 10 to 15 years time. Not to mention sub Sahara Africa. So I think there is a very slim chance they may achieve that target. After all, future growth opportunities are in Africa and developing countries like Vietnam, India and Indonesia. Saudi Arabia and Middle East are in a great location to channel the traffic.

Hence, I think 185 million is a miracle, but with the aimed time line of 2050 and the anticipated future global growth and traffic pattern changes, I will give it benefit of doubt, and I think 125-150 million is more achievable and 90-120 million is more realistic. But it will depend on many factors that may or may not happen. I will wait to see when this airport is built first. Then I will see when the aircraft order is made to match the ambition.

I saw they were planning on constructing a huge building in Saudia Arabia about 15 years ago - (Kingdom Tower/Jeddah Tower) - it didn't exactly go according to plan. Big eyes, small stomach.

Why on earth do they need a new airport? King Khalid is a huge airport, and they should be able to gradually grow it to meet demands as they go. I cannot really understand how they would feel limited by it in any realistic foreseeable future.

Looks to me like the existing RUH field being expanded as opposed to a completely new site?

Terminal shapes are same as present, albeit higher in number.

Regards

HUYfan

Megalomanic 185 millions pax per year in 2050, unless you sell tickets very low or pay for travel with them.

Unless Saudia changes business model 185 mil not realistic. Unlike EY, QR or TK; SV is not interested or has business model connecting passengers. But they have money, they can build whatever they want.

So, assuming 185mil is arriving and departing, that is 253000 arriving (or departing) passengers per day.

That is equal to 704 flights a day on 777-9x (assuming 400 seat layout with 90% load factor). Wow.

Some details and designs available here https://airport-world.com/plans-announced-for-new-riyadh-mega-hub-and-aerotropolis/. Reminds me of the original designs for Dubai's Al Maktoum International Airport which did not really materialise as envisaged!

Reminds me of the 6 runways Dubai World wanted. Will EK ever move over to it completely.

But that pax number is impressive considering you have Dubai and Qatar close by.

Not to spill this into non aviation territory, but would that many people WANT to transit in Saudi Arabia with all its Saudi restrictions?

How such small terminal complex serve 185 million

And those render image dont even show current RUH terminal expansion

This airport clearly isn’t just yet another copy of major mega airports. It seeks to innovate and raise the bar on passenger comfort and convenience. Something lacking in the past two decades.

The new Saudi Arabia is all about reinventing previous norms and looking to differentiate the visitor’s (or traveler’s) experience.

Yet again, the devil is in the details. Let’s wait and see further details. This is only a master plan. Lots of work awaits in developing the terminals’ schematic and detailed design drawings.

Not a new airport, I've flown into King Salmon for years. Will AS be upgauging now that the airport has been expanded?

kjeld0d wrote:

Not a new airport, I've flown into King Salmon for years. Will AS be upgauging now that the airport has been expanded?

You win! Brilliant! They can do shuttle services from King Salmon to ANC and on to RUH!

Seriously, though, I did wonder why they would be replacing the current aircraft because it's huge, possibly larger than DFW in terms of area (?). I guess building a new terminal complex within its grounds makes sense.

I wouldn’t put it past them of pulling this one of. The appetite for tourism bolstering is staggering. Add plenty of wealth and space to it and this will become a reality. And quicker than you think. Qatar has space but not enough planes for now. EK has no space and thus no additional lift capacity to match this. But both places are true metropolises, especially Dubai. Something RUH will never become. Plus RUH has competition from JED and the new Neom. Fascinating developments to be fair.

Seems a video of the design has appeared - keeps appearing on various sites https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_pbe6UvZT0 but if you scroll to 1min 39 secs you can see that the gates area seems to be one large rectangle which is wrapped around a "town" of some sort - this really looks more like a vanity project as that design would be a total nightmare for transfer pax

aireuropef100 wrote:

Seems a video of the design has appeared - keeps appearing on various sites https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_pbe6UvZT0 but if you scroll to 1min 39 secs you can see that the gates area seems to be one large rectangle which is wrapped around a "town" of some sort - this really looks more like a vanity project as that design would be a total nightmare for transfer pax

Almost resembles an airport version of the "NEOM" Line project.

OceanAir wrote:

xwb777 wrote:

Saudi Arabia has today announced a new airport in open in the Kingdom’s capital city, Riyadh.

The new airport os expected to be named King Salman International Airport and is expected to accomodate 185 million passengers by 2050.

King Salman Airport will cover a land area of 57 kms and will feature 6 parallel runways.

Source: https://www.arabianbusiness.com/abnews/ ... al-airport

185 million passengers.

Lmao.

I know you could get your hands chopped off for smoking grass out there but someone is smoking some sort of desert bush (and they ain't smoking pole, since that will get you beheaded too).

They won't get the 185.m pax in even 185 years

Saudi not the placing for people the visit.

aireuropef100 wrote:

Seems a video of the design has appeared - keeps appearing on various sites https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_pbe6UvZT0 but if you scroll to 1min 39 secs you can see that the gates area seems to be one large rectangle which is wrapped around a "town" of some sort - this really looks more like a vanity project as that design would be a total nightmare for transfer pax

You don’t have enough information to judge. I’ve seen videos of this showing what seems to be a monorail that goes around that loop. So imagine arriving in Gate B12 on on side and taking a monorail to avoid a 24 mins walk. This is innovation. Walking endlessly in airports to reach far away gates should be a thing of the past. Foster and Partners is going to innovate to raise the bar of passenger experience.

AsoRock wrote:

aireuropef100 wrote:

Seems a video of the design has appeared - keeps appearing on various sites https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_pbe6UvZT0 but if you scroll to 1min 39 secs you can see that the gates area seems to be one large rectangle which is wrapped around a "town" of some sort - this really looks more like a vanity project as that design would be a total nightmare for transfer pax

You don’t have enough information to judge. I’ve seen videos of this showing what seems to be a monorail that goes around that loop. So imagine arriving in Gate B12 on on side and taking a monorail to avoid a 24 mins walk. This is innovation. Walking endlessly in airports to reach far away gates should be a thing of the past. Foster and Partners is going to innovate to raise the bar of passenger experience.

Speaking of monorails (and this airport), why does this come to mind?

https://youtu.be/ZDOI0cq6GZM