New Red Sea airport opened: destinations doubled from today

It is the foundation stone of a colossal project being built on the Saudi shores of the Red Sea. Red Sea International Airport welcomed its first commercial flight last Sept. 21, when a Saudia Airbus A320 (flight SV 1571) arrived from the capital Riyadh. Connections to Riyadh are for now just two per week (on Thursdays and Saturdays), but from today, October 29, (i.e., coinciding with the start of the winter commercial aviation season) those to and from Jeddah will also depart.

Designed by the British firm Foster+Partners, the airport has a 3,700-meter long runway classified as 'code F.' that is, capable of accommodating aircraft even the size of the Boeing 747-8 and A380. The terminal has a crescent shape and a capacity of up to one million passengers per year (traffic expected in 2030).

It is about 15 kilometers from the coast, at about the same latitude as Marsa Alam, located on the Egyptian side of the Red Sea. A four-lane road connects it to the sea, but a water basin about 600 meters long is planned for seaplanes, which will connect the stopover in minutes to the resorts being built along the coast and on the coral islands. For this reason, too, the Red Sea Project has also been called 'the Maldives of the Red Sea?

The first three hotels are expected to open as early as the end of this year, but the project (which is part of the Saudi Vision 2023 program aimed at opening Saudi Arabia to the world and diversifying the country's economy as much as possible) will take off in 2024, when a total of 16 resorts with 3,000 rooms will be available. In 2030, when the works are scheduled to be completed, there will be 50 hotels available to tourists with a total of 8,000 rooms as well as a thousand residential properties. All spread over 22 islands and six bays along the coast.

The resort area and airport can be reached within a three-hour flight by about 250 million people. It is quite likely that when a number of resorts have opened their doors, many European leisure and low-cost airlines, which already fly regularly to the Red Sea, will add Red Sea International Airport to their list of destinations.

The Saudi Vision 2030 program has given and is giving great impetus to the Saudi commercial aviation sector. In Jeddah, a new terminal worthy in design and passenger services of those in Dubai and Doha and capable of 30 million passengers a year opened in 2018 at King Abdulaziz International Airport.

A new mega-airport is being built in the capital Riyadh which will have six runways and a capacity of 120 million passengers in 2030 and 185 million in 2050 and will be Riyadh Air's main hub.

The company, unveiled last March, has already ordered 39 Boeing 787-9s with an option for 33 more aircraft of the same type, is reportedly now ready for an additional mega-order for short- and medium-haul aircraft, and recently announced plans to hire 700 pilots over the next three years.

Following in the footsteps of its future rival, the historic Saudi flag carrier, Saudia, has in turn ordered from Boeing 39 787-9 and 787-10 with which to upgrade its long-haul fleet.

• New Routes