Saudi airports face privatisation by end of 2017

The Saudi Civil Aviation Authority has revealed the dates for the privatisation of three of its airports, Anadolu has reported. The airports facing this change in ownership are the King Khaled International Airport in Riyadh, King Fahd International Airport in Dammam and King Abdul Aziz International Airport in Jeddah.

The head of the authority, Salman Al-Hamdan, told a press conference in Riyadh on Tuesday that the King Khalid Airport will be privatised in the first quarter of 2017, Jeddah will follow in the second quarter with Dammam in the third quarter. The privatisations are part of the measures adopted by the Saudi government to counter the decline in oil prices and revenues. It announced recently that a number of sectors will be privatised, of which aviation is one.

The announcement came days after the budget for the 2016 fiscal year was released, showing a current deficit of $87 billion.

Saudi Arabia has 27 airports, categorised as international, regional or domestic. The largest is Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport.