King Fahd International Airport

King Fahd International Airport (KFIA) (Arabic: مطار الملك فهد الدولي‎) (IATA: DMM, ICAO: OEDF) is located 20 kilometers northwest of Dammam, Saudi Arabia. It is the largest airport in the world in terms of land area (780 km²). The airport's basic infrastructure was complete by the end of 1990, which allowed the Allied forces engaged in the first Gulf War in early 1991 to use the field for the storage of military aircraft. The General Authority of Civil Aviation of Saudi Arabia finally opened the new Dammam King Fahd International Airport on November 28, 1999 to commercial traffic, and all airlines transferred their operations from Dhahran airport, which had been in use until then. The new Dammam airport serves the entire Eastern Region of Saudi Arabia and in particular the growing urban complex made up of Dammam, Dhahran, Al Khobar, Qatif, Ras Tanura, while its catchment area also covers Jubail with total population of about 2 million served. The airport is the third major hub for Saudi Arabian Airlines, and furthermore was a hub for the now defunct Sama Airlines.

Design and construction

Design started in 1976. The site master plan was created by architecture firm Yamasaki & Associates and Boeing Aerosystems International, and completed in 1977.^[2] Construction began in 1983, and the airport opened for commercial operations in November 1999.^[3]

Location

The airport, in the Eastern Province of the country, is located between Qatif and Dammam, about 22 km away from Dammam. It is linked to population areas by two major roads. The northern exit, which used to be the only one, links the airport with Qatif as a 4-lane highway. The southern exit links the Airport with Dammam as a 6-lane highway to King Fahd Road which is now considered as the main road to the airport. Abu Hadriyah Highway (Arabic: ابوحدريّة‎), serves as the airport's eastern border while Dammam-Riyadh Highway serves as a southern border.

On the airport's southern border, Saudi Aramco occupies an area of 250 km² (97 mi²) which is used for oil drilling and transportation facilities. However, the area is being claimed by many investors in order to urbanize it for residential and commercial use which if happened will utilize that strategic location, an example would be Ghannam 4 (Airport Jewel) which is the first and only urbanization attempt that had taken place before is was stopped due to involvement in the issue of Aramco Reservations which is the reason why the airport is still far away from the city. If the issue is resolved the terminal would be as close as 10 km to the Urban areas of Dammam.

Troubled history

Bad transport roads led many locals to fly via the airport in neighboring Bahrain. The roads have since been improved. Passenger numbers have increased somewhat, but it remains a largely idle (excess capacity) airport due to significant portion of the public being travelling via the nearby Bahrain International Airport for international flights in addition to some people living in Khobar may prefer it even for some domestic destinations due to the long distance to the airport. Many airlines prefer to operate only from Bahrain and bring passengers from Dammam to Bahrain by road which is likely to increase after the planned expansion for King Fahd Causeway is completed unless serious improvement is implemented in managing the airport in order to attract more airlines and passengers. King Fahd International Airport is fully operational throughout the year. Also, the other reason of passengers preferring to travel from Bahrain is the mistreatment of the airport officials (specially passport control officers) and long waiting times which reaches to 3hrs specially for arrivals from South Asian countries and Egypt. People often complain about the mistreatment by several means but no action has been taken by the airport authorities to improve.

Terminals

Passenger terminal

The passenger terminal has six stories of which three are allocated for passenger processing. The third level is for arrivals, the sixth level is for departures, and the fourth level is for boarding. There are two partial levels: the mezzanine service level and the mezzanine level (which is the uppermost level).

The passenger terminal’s total area is 327,000 m² (3,519,798 ft²). Approximately 247,500 m² (2,664,067 ft²) were built in the first phase, in addition to 11 fixed passenger boarding bridges serving 15 gates out of an original design capacity of 31 fixed boarding bridges. At the present time only (7 out of 11) boarding bridges can be used for international flight as the southern section of the terminal that hosts the remaining four gates is still unused, however since domestic flights are entirely running from the operating northern section, all eleven boarding bridges can be used for domestic flights.

The terminal is equipped with several customer counters of which 66 were allocated to Saudi Arabian Airlines (now shared with Nas Air), 44 to foreign airlines and the rest for Customs and Immigration.

Passengers Waiting time

Dammam airport usual waiting times (2011 average):

CHECK-IN

• Domestic flights: 10-25mins.
• International flights: 20-45mins.

PASSPORT CONTROL

International Departures:

• Saudi and GCC Nationals: 05-15mins.
• Other Nationals: 15mins to 30mins.

International Arrivals:

• Saudi and GCC Nationals: 10-20mins.
• Other Nationals: 30mins to 3hrs.

BAGGAGE CLAIM

• For all flights: 15-30mins.

Services and amenities

Shops and other services

King Fahd International Airport was the first among Saudi Arabia's international airports to adopt duty-free markets. In addition to the spaces allocated to duty-free markets, the airport has a separate area for shops specializing in the sale of gifts and all passenger related goods. This area includes restaurants, cafeterias, and banks, and is located on the arrivals level. The distinction is largely meaningless however as the Kingdom has no sales or import duties on any products. Recently, as part of larger marketing project named "Golden Circle", several shops and services are planned to open including indoor playgrounds and travel agencies.

The following duty free shops can be found at the airport:

• Krispy Kreme - Arrival and Departure
• Subway - Arrival
• Costa Coffee - Arrival
• Coffee Talk - Departure (one before immigration and one after security check)
• dr. Cafe - Departure
• Mr.Pax - Arrival and Departure
• Gift Shops - Arrival and Departure
• Snack Shops - Arrival and Departure

Currency Exchange

Several ATMs and currency exchange shops are available in the departure and arrival areas however they are all located before security. Therefore in order to shop after security checks passengers must make sure they have sufficient cash prior to proceeding to security.

Multi-Story Car Park

The airport is served by a multi-storey car park. Parking charges are SR1 per hour. Car can also be parked there for long periods but there are NO special rates.The parking charge is 1 SR per hour Or 24 Sr per day, regardless how long you stay.

Smoking Room

Dammam airport used to allow smoking throughout the airport, with most seats having ash trays right next to them. However, on 20 June 2010, the Council of Ministers urged the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) to ban smoking at all airports and their facilities in the Kingdom on Monday. It also advised GACA to impose a fine of SR200 on people who violate the new regulations. Following the announcement, the airport opened a smoking room in the Departure area and banned smoking elsewhere in the airport.

The Mosque

The airport mosque is built on the roof of the car park and in the middle of a landscaped area of 46,200 m² (497,292 ft²). It has an architectural design that combines modern style with the old Islamic style (arches, domes, and other Islamic decorations and carvings on the doors, mihrab, and mimbar). The mosque accommodates two thousand worshipers. Access to the mosque can be easily gained from the passenger terminal through two enclosed, air-conditioned bridges equipped with moving belts, in addition to a third open bridge.

Hotel

Tendering was announced to open in late 2010 for construction of a 5-star airport hotel. According to the airport administration, the hotel will be conveniently located nearby the passenger terminal building.

Royal Terminal

The Royal Terminal is reserved for the Saudi Royal Family, government personnel, and official guests. The terminal was built on an area of 16,400 m² (176,528 ft²) and has four bridges linking the terminal and aircraft. It is luxuriously furnished and decorated, and includes extensively landscaped exteriors and grounds. Despite its specialized purpose, the terminal is rarely used by the Royal Family, who generally prefer to utilize a similar special terminal at Dhahran International Airport (Now King Abdulaziz Airbase).

Airlines and destinations

Cargo airlines

Airport infrastructure

Runways

The airport has two parallel runways with a length of 4,000 m (13,123 ft) each, in addition to taxiways parallel to the runways and a cross taxiway to connect the two runways. A distance of 2,146 m (7,041 ft) separates the two runways to facilitate simultaneous takeoff and landing operations. For more convenience and shorter taxiing durations, the east runway is usually used by Saudi Aramco while commercial airlines use the west one, however situation changes if one of the runways is undergoing maintenance. Space has been set aside for the construction of a third parallel runway.

The airport is classified as Code E by ICAO which makes it designed to accommodate large aircraft such as Boeing 747-400 and A340-600. Although it may practically be possible for A380 to use the airport it is not recommended as in order to accommodate such aircraft as Airbus A380 or Boeing 747-8 it requires the airport to be Code F. Only at Dammam Airport do the runways meet Code F requirements; however, the taxiways and gates do not. In May 2009, an Antonov 225 the world's largest aircraft landed at Dammam Airport from Ukraine whilst transporting equipment used for oil drilling and exploration to Tanzania for Schlumberger.

A road for ground support equipment (GSE) runs along the western side of the central terminal. It is designed to allow GSE to have access to aircraft and also to facilitate the movement of baggage vehicles from aircraft to baggage areas.

Operations Services

There are ten main Operations Services areas providing facilities for the operation of the airport.

Cargo

The two-story air cargo building is constructed on an area of 39,500 m² (425,174 ft²) and has a capacity of 94,000 metric tons (103,617 tons) of incoming and outgoing cargo.

The terminal’s design allows for transforming the operation system to a fully automatic system equipped with multi-level racks and a container stacking system. When the air cargo facility becomes fully automatic, its capacity will be increased to 176,000 metric tons (194,007 tons) per year.

Control Tower

The control tower stands 85.5 meters (281 feet) high, equivalent to the height of a 30-story building. The height allows visibility of all parts of the airport operations area. Its total floor area is 7,960 m² (85,681 ft²), and it contains the following three main sections:

• Air traffic control level
• Mezzanine level one, which accommodates support equipment for traffic control and communication
• Mezzanine level two, allocated for a kitchen and toilets

Car parking

The total area of the car park is 176,752 m² (1,902,543 ft²), distributed among three covered floors. The parking area accommodates 4,930 cars. Cars enter the car park through a roadway that leads to the second floor. There is direct access to the passenger terminal from the parking on the first floor which lies under the access road with exits leading to the main roads. Parking charges are 1 Saudi Riyal per hour, which is a flat rate regardless how long you stay. There are no special long term parking rates.

Two open parking areas are available beside the rental car parking area to accommodate additional cars.

Saudi Aramco Facilities

Saudi Aramco is responsible for supplying fuel and maintaining fuel installations. These include six large tanks with a capacity of 40,000 barrels each, in addition to pumping equipment, filters, loading stations, and the distribution valve network. Saudi Aramco operates regular flights for its personnel, which originate from Dammam to cover Haradh, Tanajib, Shaybah, Hawtah, Al Ahsa, Khurais, Riyadh, Jeddah and Yanbu, using Boeing 737 and Dash-8 equipment.

The General Aviation terminal on the east side of Dammam airport is being used exclusively by Saudi Aramco. In addition, an advanced fleet of fuel tankers provides fuel services to all types of commercial aircraft.

Food preparation and Catering Building

This building is a 17,287 m² (186,075 ft²), single-story in-flight catering facility, capable of producing 8,000 aircraft meals a day plus 1,000 meals for staff and 300 for the Royal Pavilion kitchen.

Nursery and landscaping

King Fahd International Airport has its own plant nursery with a total area of 215,579 square metres (2,320,470 sq ft) which encompasses three green houses and 36,400 square metres (392,000 sq ft) of green fields. The nursery supplies the airport gardens and planted areas with trees and plants.

Statistics

King Fahd International Airport consistently has over 2.5 million passengers per year and at present over 5 million passengers use the airport annually.^[7]

References

External links

• King Fahd International Airport
• Airport information for OEDF at World Aero Data. Data current as of October 2006.Source: DAFIF.
• Airport information for OEDF at Great Circle Mapper. Source: DAFIF (effective Oct. 2006).
• Current weather for OEDF at NOAA/NWS
• Accident history for DMM at Aviation Safety Network