Saudi Arabia is to build a new airport in Riyadh, which will be one of the largest in the world in terms of size, the country officially announced on Monday. King Salman Airport will have six runways and after completion, in 2030, will be able to welcome 120 million passengers annually. By 2050, the capacity must have grown to 185 million passengers per year.

King Salman Airport, which will merge with the current airport of Riyadh (King Khalid Airport), will be home to the new Saudi Arabian state airline RIA. It must compete with Emirates and Qatar Airways, among others, and turn Riyadh into a major international aviation hub, comparable to Dubai.

The current national airline, Saudia, will also continue to exist and will even be expanded, but with Jeddah as its home base. Saudi Arabia will soon have two major airlines.

Although the aviation sector is set to grow enormously, the country says it finds sustainability very important. Therefore, the electricity for King Salman Airport will come from renewable sources.

The billion-dollar investments are part of plans to make the Saudi economy less dependent on oil revenues. The new airport must directly and indirectly provide work for at least 103,000 people.

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* Origin: AVIATION ECHO HQ (2:292/854)