Page 13 - DAEP PR REPORT - JANUARY 2025

1/16/25, 4:30 PM Airport Show-2025 to showcase best-in-class technology
The New Abha Airport project, in Saudi Arabia, upon completion, will boast an annual capacity to handle
more than 13 million passengers, nearly a tenfold increase from its current capacity of 1.5 million
passengers. In Oman, Musandam Airport is being constructed for US$250 million and is expected to be
ready by Q4 2026. The Red Sea International Airport on Saudi Arabia’s west coast is projected to

accommodate one million passengers annually upon full completion in 2030, with a peak capacity of 900
passengers per hour.

In the UAE, work on the Sharjah International Airport’s terminal is expected to be completed by 2026.
Bahrain is evaluating a project to develop a 40-million-passenger capacity international airport terminal

that will replace its existing hub. In Kuwait, a new triangular terminal with 28 gates is expected to
increase the airport’s capacity by up to 50 million passengers per year as it will become operational in
2025/2026. In Iraq, three major airports are expected to open by 2025. The three-runway Beirut
International Airport has plans to reach 20 million passenger capacity in 2030, according to the website

of national carrier Middle East Airlines (MEA). According to CAPA - Centre for Aviation report in August
2024, its terminal will see its capacity go up by one million passengers annually when it opens later in
2025. Egypt hopes to expand the capacity of its airport infrastructure to handle 72.2 million passengers
by 2025.

In South Asia, the majority of airports are in India, the world’s most populous country. India has presently
a total of 137 airports which includes 24 international airports. Two major airport projects are in different
stages of execution in India in Jewar near New Delhi and Navi Mumbai, along with up to 15 other airport
projects being in the pipeline. India, where domestic air passenger traffic is set to reach up to 300
million by 2030, will have up to 240 airports, including heliports and water aerodromes. It plans to invest

US$11 billion in airport infrastructure to reach 200 operational airports by 2025-end.

In Africa, Ethiopia has started the process of having the largest airport in Africa by 2030. Morocco targets
a staggering increase in airport passenger capacity of 80 million annually by 2035 through the
expansion and modernization of existing airport infrastructure. Significantly, the Middle East and Africa

airport infrastructure market’s value is expected to reach US$15,308.82 million by 2030.

“The Middle East has remained one of the world’s fastest growing hubs for the civil aviation industry
given its unwavering commitment to airport and airline developments and being at the new global travel
crossroads. Regional airports have remained leading adaptors of new technologies given their
unwavering commitment to airport and airline developments and being at the new global travel

crossroads.

Over the past 23 years, the Airport Show has proved itself to be the best platform to source everything
crucial that the region’s airports, now numbering 110, require. The 24th edition of the Airport Show will
continue climbing the ladder of spectacular success,” remarked May Ismail, Event Manager at RX, a

global company that organizes about 400 events across 42 industry sectors in 22 countries including the

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