| Khamis Mushait خـميــس مشيـــط |
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|---|---|
| Statue of coffee in Heritage area of Khamis Mushait | |
| Country | Saudi Arabia |
| Province | Asir |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Saeed Bin Mushait |
| Population (2004) | |
| • Total | 1,846,467 |
| Time zone | GMT +3 (UTC+3) |
Khamis Mushait (Arabic: خميس مشيط Khamis Mushait) is a city in south-west Saudi Arabia, located 35 minutes east of Abha, the provincial seat of the Asir province. It is the capital of the Shahran Tribe. Until the 1970s Khamis Mushait was a small town of less than 50,000 servicing the surrounding mild-climate agricultural region. Since then its population has grown eightfold to reach 446,467 (2004 census).
Khamis Mushait is the largest city in Asir province, nowadays one of the most populated regions in Saudi Arabia. The city's name comes from the weekly market that is held each Thursday; "Khamis" simply meaning Thursday in Arabic. Khamis Mushait is a popular tourist destination in the summer, due to its relatively mild summer weather, frequent rainfall, and famous well maintained parks. The city is served by the Abha regional airport, located approximately 18 km from the city centre.
Khamis Mushayit is well connected with a good quality road network. The city lacks a bus or rail network, so private vehicle hire plays a significant role in the transport system.
To Arrive to Khamis Mushayit from outside the Asir region, you can basically use one of three travel modes which are: airplanes, buses, and passenger cars. Khamis Mushayit still needs more improvement in respect of transportation, especially that the city is considered one of the highest populated cities in Saudi Arabia (8th in the country) where the population density is considerably high. As a result, the roads suffer from congestion during daylight.
King Khalid Air Base (KMX) has a 12,400 ft (3,780 m) paved runway without customs facilities. The base was designed and built by US Army and Air Force engineers in the 1960s and 70s.
Khamis Mushait is one of the 6 main Saudi Air Force bases (the others being Taif, Jeddah, Dhahran, Riyadh and Tabuk). The following aircraft types are based here: F-15C/D, F-15S (a slightly downgraded F-15E strike variant), Tornado IDS, F-5 (The F-5 aircraft were removed from KKAB in the late 80s and transferred to Riyadh). AH64 Apache helicopters and Blackhawks were based here for training and servicing in support of the armour and artillery schools at the King Faisal Military City close by [1].
During the Gulf War of 1990, US F-117A aircraft were based in Khamis Mushait [2][3]. At that time, they flew from Khamis Mushait directly to Baghdad or beyond and back to Khamis Mushayt.
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