Prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz International Airport

Prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz International Airport or Medina Airport (IATA: MED, ICAO: OEMA) is a regional airport in Medina, Saudi Arabia. Opened in 1950, it handles domestic flights, while it has scheduled international services to regional destinations such as Cairo, Dubai, Istanbul and Kuwait City. Medina Airport also handles charter international flights during the Hajj and Umrah seasons. The Pilgrims for Hajj and Umrah can enter Saudi Arabia through this airport or through Jeddah Airport only. It is the fourth busiest airport in Saudi Arabia, handling 8,144,790 passengers in 2018.[1]

Prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz International Airport

مطار الأمير محمد بن عبد العزيز الدولي
Summary
Airport typePrivatized
OperatorTIBAH Airports Development Co., TAV Airports Holding
ServesMedina
LocationMedina, Saudi Arabia
Hub forSaudia
Elevation AMSL2,151 ft / 656 m
Coordinates24°33′12″N 039°42′18″E
Websitewww.tibahairports.com
Map
MED
Location of airport in Saudi Arabia
MED
MED (Asia)
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
17/35 14,222 4,335 Asphalt
18/36 10,007 3,050 Asphalt
Statistics (2018)
Passengers8,144,790[1]
Air Traffic Movements60,665[1]

Overview

The existing airport achieved international status in 2007. The winning consortium comprised TAV Airports of Turkey and Saudi Oger Limited and Al Rajhi Holding Group, both of Saudi Arabia. In October 2011, the consortium entered into a contract with the Civil Aviation Authority of Saudi Arabia (GACA) to build and operate the Prince Muhammad Bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Al Madinah Al-Munawarah under a 25-year concession. The project reached financial close on 30 June 2012, securing a total of US$1.2 billion financing package from a club of Saudi Arabian banks. The project has been structured as a Build-Transfer-Operate (BTO) project so that GACA retains ownership of the airport infrastructure. The consortium, through the special purpose vehicle incorporated for the project, TIBAH Airports Development Company Limited, will be responsible for the management of the airport, including airside and landside operations. GACA will continue to act as regulator and will be responsible for air traffic control operation.

The 25 year concession is the first full public private partnership (PPP) project in Saudi Arabia. The project has an initial build cost of US$1.2 billion and which may, with future investments and expansions, increase to US$1.5 billion. Whilst there are a number of major transport projects in the pipeline in the GCC region, it was the largest infrastructure project to close in 2012. The three lenders – National Commercial Bank, Arab National Bank and Saudi British Bank – provided a US$1.2 billion Islamic financing package comprising a three-year US$436 million commodity Murabaha equity bridge facility, an 18-year US$719 million procurement facility (in several tranches) and a US$23 million working capital facility. The facilities were primarily denominated in Saudi Riyals (SAR).[2]

Madinah Airport has been awarded Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification for the recent terminal expansion from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). LEED certification is considered the industry standard in defining and measuring "green," sustainable construction. The award makes Madinah Airport home to the first LEED Gold certified commercial airport terminal in MENA region, demonstrating Madinah Airport’s commitment to environment, sustainability, passenger comfort, and efficiency.[3] The Project has also been awarded for Middle East Infrastructure Deal of the Year (2013) by Project Finance International Middle East & Africa Awards,[4] and Best Islamic Finance Project Finance Deal of the Year (2013) by Euromoney Islamic Finance Awards.[5]

Madinah airport interior during high traffic

New Madinah airport test operations began on 12 April 2015. A Saudia domestic flight coming from Riyadh landed at 11 a.m. at the new Prince Muhammad bin Abdul Aziz International Airport in Madinah, marking the start of the airport’s test run operations. Flight SV1435 was the first to land at the airport. Another aircraft, flight SV1476, then took off at 11:45, the first ever to take off from the new facility.[6]

A Pakistan International Airlines Boeing 747-300.
A Turkish Airlines Airbus A321 at the international arrivals area, during the 2008 Hajj season.
Parking Area of Airport

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman opened the new Prince Mohammed bin Abdul Aziz International Airport in Madinah on 2 July 2015.[7] The airport project was announced as the world's best by Engineering News-Record's 3rd Annual Global Best Projects Competition held on 10 September 2015.[8][9] The airport also received the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certificate in the MENA region.[8] The airport is named after Crown Prince Muhammad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, who is otherwise remembered for ordering the execution for adultery of his granddaughter, Princess Misha'al bint Fahd.[10]

Airlines and destinations
AirlinesDestinations
AirAsia XCharter: Kuala Lumpur–International
Air ArabiaSharjah
Air CairoAlexandria, Assiut, Sohag
Air ChinaCharter: Beijing–Capital, Lanzhou, Yinchuan
Air IndiaCharter: Delhi, Kolkata, Kozhikode, Mangalore, Srinagar[11]
AnadoluJet Istanbul–Sabiha Gökçen[12]
Biman Bangladesh Airlines Chittagong, Dhaka[13]
China Southern AirlinesCharter: Ürümqi
EgyptAirAlexandria, Cairo
Seasonal: Sharm El Sheikh[14]
EmiratesDubai–International
Etihad AirwaysAbu Dhabi
Ethiopian AirlinesAddis Ababa
flydubaiDubai–International
FlynasAbha,[15] Algiers, Dubai–International,[16] Hofuf,[15] Jeddah, Khartoum, Kuwait, Riyadh, Sharjah
Garuda Indonesia Jakarta–Soekarno-Hatta
Seasonal: Banda Aceh, Surabaya, Surakarta/Solo
Charter: Medan
Gulf AirBahrain
Iran AirCharter: Ardabil, Bandar Abbas, Bushehr, Hamadan, Isfahan, Jeddah, Kerman, Kermanshah, Sari, Tehran–Imam Khomeini, Urmia, Yazd, Zanjan
Iraqi AirwaysCharter: Baghdad
Kuwait AirwaysKuwait
Lion Air Seasonal: Padang1,[17] Pekanbaru1,[17] Surabaya
Malaysia Airlines Kuala Lumpur–International[18]
Charter: Alor Setar, Johor Bahru,[19] Kuala Terengganu, Penang
Middle East AirlinesCharter: Beirut
Nesma Airlines Ha'il[20]
Oman Air Muscat
Pakistan International Airlines Faisalabad, Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Multan[21]
Pegasus AirlinesIstanbul–Sabiha Gökçen[22]
Qeshm AirlinesCharter: Tehran-Imam Khomeini
Royal Air Maroc Casablanca, Jeddah
Seasonal: Agadir, Fez, Marrakech, Oujda, Rabat, Tangier
Royal JordanianAmman–Queen Alia
Salam AirMuscat[23]
SaudiaAbha, Abu Dhabi, Alexandria, Algiers, Ankara, Baghdad, Cairo, Casablanca, Dammam, Dhaka, Dubai–International, Gassim, Istanbul, Jakarta–Soekarno-Hatta, Jeddah, Karachi, Kuala Lumpur–International, Kuwait, Lahore, Medan, Muscat, Peshawar, Surabaya, Tabuk
Seasonal: Izmir, Kozhikode, Makassar, Mumbai
Charter: Ahwaz, Agadir, Karachi, Delhi, Fez, Frankfurt, Geneva, Khartoum, Kozhikode, Kolkata, London–Heathrow, Marrakech, Milan–Malpensa, Mashhad, New York–JFK, Oujda, Padang, Rabat, Rome–Fiumicino, Tabriz, Tanger, Washington–Dulles
SaudiGulf AirlinesDammam
SCAT Airlines Charter: Almaty[24]
SpiceJetCharter: Kozhikode, Srinagar[25]
TunisairCharter: Tunis
Turkish AirlinesIstanbul[26]
Charter: Ankara, Antalya, Gaziantep, Izmir
UTair Aviation Charter: Magas, Makhachkala, Kazan[27]
Uzbekistan Airways Charter: Tashkent

Statistics
YearsPassengersMovements
2011[28] 3,547,508 32,935
2012[29] 4,588,158 36,499
2013[30] 4,669,181 40,000
2014[31] 5,703,349 48,549
2015[32] 5,831,163 49,031
2016[33] 6,572,787 54,451
2017[1] 7,805,295 58,045
2018[1] 8,144,790 60,665
Source: TAV Investor Relations[34]

Accidents and incidents
  • On 16 March 2001, the airport was the scene of a bloody end to the hijacking of a Russian-based Vnukovo Airlines Tupolev Tu-154 jet bound from Istanbul to Moscow carrying 162 passengers. The hijackers, apparently Chechen Separatists, had landed at the airport and had demanded additional amount of fuel to fly to Afghanistan. After 18 hours of no negotiations, Saudi Security forces stormed the plane bringing an end to the hijack. There were three fatalities, including a hijacker, a Turkish passenger, and a Russian Air stewardess.[35]
  • On 5 January 2014, a Saudia Boeing 767-300, flight SV2841 from Mashhad, Iran made an emergency landing after one of its main landing gear failed to deploy. The aircraft was traveling from the Iranian city of Mashhad with 315 passengers on board, 29 people were injured as they exited the aircraft that was in a nose-up position, 11 were taken to hospital, while the rest were treated at the airport's medical center.[36]

See also

References
  1. "TAV Traffic Results 2018" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 July 2019. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
  2. "10 things to know about the Madinah Airport expansion PPP transaction".
  3. "PressReleaseDetail". Archived from the original on 30 June 2017. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  4. "PFIe".
  5. "Banking industry news & analysis of international finance – Euromoney magazine". Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  6. "New Madinah airport test operations begins". Saudi Gazette. 12 April 2015. Archived from the original on 30 April 2015. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  7. "King Salman opens mega airport in Madinah". Arab News. 4 July 2015. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
  8. "Arabian Aerospace – TAV have constructed the world's best airport".
  9. "ENR Announces Winners of 3rd Annual Global Best Projects Competition". Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  10. Weston, Mark (28 July 2008). Prophets and Princes: Saudi Arabia from Muhammad to the Present. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 9780470182574. Retrieved 25 October 2017 – via Google Books.
  11. http://brighterkashmir.com/820-pilgrims-to-leave-for-hajj-from-srinagar-airport-everyday/
  12. Liu, Jim. "Turkish Airlines confirms AnadoluJet network transition from late-March 2020". Routesonline. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  13. https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/286708/biman-bangladesh-adds-madinah-manchester-service-in-w19/
  14. "WEEKLY FLIGHTS FROM JEDDAH AND MADINAH TO SHARM ELSHEIKH". egyptair.com. 9 June 2019.
  15. Liu, Jim. "flynas W19 network expansion". Routesonline. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
  16. "flynas Adds Madinah – Dubai Route from April 2015". Airlineroute.net. 27 February 2015. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  17. 2017, UBM (UK) Ltd. "Lion Air adds Boeing 737MAX service to Saudi Arabia from Oct 2017". Retrieved 25 October 2017.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  18. https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/281082/malaysia-airlines-adds-madinah-scheduled-service-in-w18/
  19. https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/malaysia-airlines-starts-hajj-charter
  20. 2017, UBM (UK) Ltd. "Nesma Airlines expands Hail service in Nov 2016". Retrieved 25 October 2017.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  21. "pk_jun15.jpg".
  22. Liu, Jim. "Pegasus adds Madinah flights from Jan 2020". Routesonline. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
  23. "Welcome to SalamAir". salamair.com. Archived from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  24. Liu, Jim. "SCAT adds Saudi Arabia service in W19". Routesonline. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  25. "SpiceJet to operate 148 Hajj flights from and to Srinagar". Greater Kashmir. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  26. "Istanbul New Airport Transition Delayed Until April 5, 2019 (At The Earliest)".
  27. "UTair Transports Hajj Pilgrims". Archived from the original on 6 October 2015.
  28. "TAV Traffic Results 2012" (PDF).
  29. "TAV Traffic Results 2012" (PDF).
  30. "TAV Traffic Results 2013" (PDF).
  31. "TAV Traffic Results 2014" (PDF).
  32. "TAV Traffic Results 2015" (PDF).
  33. "TAV Traffic Results 2016" (PDF).
  34. "TAV Traffic Results". Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  35. "Bloody end to Chechen HIjack". BBC News. 16 March 2001. Retrieved 29 January 2009.
  36. "29 injured as Saudia jet makes emergency landing".
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