– K N Wasif, Yahind News
Riyadh – Market-leading aviation industry players from across the world made their way to Riyadh as the biggest-ever airport exhibition in Saudi Arabia opened its doors today in Riyadh, enabling them to gain vital insights into the most transformative and developmental phase of the airport industry in the largest and the most populous country on the Arabian Peninsula.
As the Kingdom work its way on a US$147 billion expansion of its transport sector to expand and upgrade 29 international and domestic airports to serve 330 million travellers by 2030 and shores up facilities at two large mega hubs in Riyadh and Jeddah along with setting up another national carrier, it has been no surprise to see the global industry stakeholders being head over heels to tap the Middle East’s largest aviation market with the fastest passenger traffic growth until 2040. Officials work towards generating US$100 billion in aviation sector investment by 2030. Its strategy is to increase connectivity to 250 destinations and double air cargo capacity to 4.5 million tonnes to enable aviation to deliver US$75 billion to its GDP by 2030.
Saudi Airport Exhibition, at Al Faisaliah Hotel until November 8, is seeing the B2B platform focusing on expansion, innovation and collaboration to help one of the world’s top 5 airport growth markets, with the Platinum Sponsors being Matarat, a holding company that operates and handles the investments of General Authority of Civil Aviation, the Kingdom’s aviation regulator, and Al Tanfeethi that operates executive terminals at all airports in the Kingdom.
Over 150 international companies have pitched their pavilions at the show from more than 25 countries from the US, Europe, Asia and Arabian Gulf regions. Among key participants are Goldhofer, SITA, Siemens, CCM Airports, Fraport, ADB Safegate, Egis, TLD, Serco, Swissport, BECHTEL, IHSE and Nuctech. Key Saudi entities here include Saudi Ground Services, Saudi Air Navigation Services, Seder Group, METCO, PPMDC, Ground Handling Logistics, Nesma United Industries, AQESA, Trans Cities Trading, Hoshan Group and MAFA.
The only airports-dedicated B2B show in the Kingdom’s history has brought under one roof airport operators, infrastructure developers, ANSPs, ground handlers, security experts and investment companies. Participants will be gaining valuable insights about the commercial and investment opportunities in this aviation market from key stakeholders involved in the process.
A co-located event is the Future Airport Development and Investment Summit which is seeing over 500 participants, including Saudi transport and aviation leaders, global experts and suppliers from near and far. The Summit discusses the role of the aviation industry in supporting Saudi Vision 2030; Aviation Sustainability; Rebuilding the aviation industry post-pandemic; Future Airport Planning; Passenger Centric Thinking to Prepare the Airports of Tomorrow; Digital Innovation in Aviation; Developing Robust and Sustainable Air Traffic Management Systems; Airport Security in the Age of Digital Disruption, and Building a Local Aviation Talent Pool to Support Growth.
– YaHind.Com