King Fahd International Airport

King Fahd International Airport
Dammam Airport
مطار الملك فهد الدولي

IATA: DMMICAO: OEDF

DMM
Location of airport in Saudi Arabia

Summary
Airport type Public
Operator General Authority of Civil Aviation
Serves Dammam Metropolitan Area & Jubail
Location Dammam, Saudi Arabia
Opened 28 November 1999 (1999-11-28)
Hub for

Saudia

Aramco Aviation

SaudiGulf
Elevation AMSL 72 ft / 22 m
Coordinates 26°28′16.3″N 049°47′54.9″E / 26.471194°N 49.798583°E / 26.471194; 49.798583Coordinates: 26°28′16.3″N 049°47′54.9″E / 26.471194°N 49.798583°E / 26.471194; 49.798583
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
16R/34L 13,123 4,000 Asphalt
16L/34R 13,123 4,000 Asphalt
Statistics (2015)
Passengers 9,000,000+
Cargo (tons) 115,830
Aircraft movements 66,966

King Fahd International Airport (KFIA) (Arabic: مطار الملك فهد الدولي) (IATA: DMM, ICAO: OEDF) is an airport in Dammam, Saudi Arabia 20 kilometers (12 mi) northwest of Dammam, Saudi Arabia. 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. KFIA was the base used by all USAF A-10s (144), as well as the US Army's 101st Airbornes AH-64, CH-47, UH-60, and OH-58 helicopters during the Gulf War. It was much more than a storage area. The US Army had many units there before the start of the war, as well as during redeployment from Iraq after. The General Authority of Civil Aviation of Saudi Arabia finally opened the new Dammam King Fahd International Airport on 28 November 1999 to commercial traffic, and all airlines transferred their operations from Dhahran International Airport, which had been in use until then. The new Dammam airport serves most of Eastern Region of Saudi Arabia and in particular the growing urban complex made up of Dammam, Dhahran, Khobar, Qatif, Ras Tanura, while its catchment area also covers Jubail with total population of about 2.5 million served. The airport is the third major hub for Saudia, and furthermore was a hub for the now defunct Sama Airlines.

The airport is named for Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, King of Saudi Arabia from 1982 until his death in 2005.

History

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.[1] Construction began in 1983, and the airport opened for commercial operations on 28 November 1999.[2]

Military Base

Location

The airport, in the Eastern Province of the country, is located between Qatif and Dammam, about 20 km (12 mi) away from Dammam. It is linked to populated 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 the Dammam-Riyadh Highway serves as a southern border.

On the airport's southern border, Saudi Aramco occupies an area of 250 km2 (97 sq mi) which is used for oil drilling and transportation facilities.

The location of this airport provides unique role as it hosts the Kingdom's shortest international flight to Bahrain as well as operating Saudi Arabia's longest domestic flight between Dammam and Tabuk.

Terminals

A Sama Airlines Boeing 737 parked at the airport, bound for Medina. View from the departure lounge of the terminal.
Inside the passenger terminal

The terminal has six stories, three of which 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 (3,520,000 sq ft). Approximately 247,500 m2 (2,664,000 sq ft) 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 arrivals as the southern section of the terminal that hosts the remaining four gates is still unused making those gates unconnected to passport control and customes, however since domestic flights are entirely running from the operating northern section, all eleven boarding bridges can be used for domestic flights as well as the departures of international flights.

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

The largest airport in the world in terms of area

Several sources, such as the Guinness Book of World Records[3] mention this airport as the largest in the world, with a total area of 780 square kilometers (Larger than Bahrain). The official website, however, publishes an actual utilized airport area of 3,675 hectares (9,080 acres), or 36.75 square kilometers. It does mention a total area of 77,600 hectares (192,000 acres), but that includes the whole property[4]

Services and amenities

Shops and other services

King Fahd International Airport was the first among Saudi Arabia's international airports to adopt duty-free stores. In addition to the spaces allocated to duty-free stores, 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 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 it 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, however nothing has been confirmed yet.

15-06-2015 The five star Hotel has been started for Construction on site entry of pay Parking Entrance

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 (177,000 sq ft) 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 King Abdulaziz Air Base.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

AirlinesDestinations
Air Arabia Sharjah
Air Arabia Egypt Alexandria-Borg el Arab
Air Arabia Jordan Amman-Queen Alia[5]
Airblue Lahore
Air India Delhi
Air India Express Kochi (resumes 28 May 2016),[6] Kozhikode, Mangalore
Biman Bangladesh Airlines Dhaka
EgyptAir Alexandria-Borg el Arab, Cairo
Emirates Dubai-International
Ethiopian Airlines Addis Ababa
Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi
FlyDubai Dubai-International
Felix Airways Aden, Ta'izz (all suspended)[7]
Flynas Abha, Jeddah, Khartoum,[8] Madinah, Riyadh, Ta'if, Yanbu
Gulf Air Bahrain
Iran Air Mashhad
Jet Airways Delhi, Kochi, Kozhikode, Mumbai, Thiruvananthapuram
KLM Amsterdam, Kuwait
Kuwait Airways Kuwait
Lufthansa Frankfurt
Mahan Air Mashhad, Tehran-Imam Khomeini
Seasonal: Isfahan
Middle East Airlines Beirut
Oman Air Muscat
Pakistan International Airlines Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Sialkot
Philippine Airlines Manila[9]
Qatar Airways Doha
Royal Jordanian Amman-Queen Alia
Saudia Abha, Al Baha, Amman-Queen Alia, Bangalore, Bisha, Cairo, Chennai, Delhi, Dhaka, Dubai-International, Gassim, Ha'il, Hyderabad, Islamabad, Istanbul-Atatürk, Jeddah, Jizan, Karachi, Kochi, Manila, Medina, Mumbai, Najran, Riyadh, Tabuk, Ta'if, Turaif
Shaheen Air Islamabad, Lahore
SriLankan Airlines Colombo
Turkish Airlines Istanbul-Atatürk

Cargo

AirlinesDestinations
Air France Cargo Dubai-International, Hong Kong, Mumbai
Cargo Garuda Indonesia Jakarta–Soekarno–Hatta
Cargolux Hong Kong, Luxembourg
Emirates SkyCargoDubai-Al Maktoum
Etihad Cargo Abu Dhabi[10]
Lufthansa Cargo Frankfurt, Sharjah
Martinair Cargo Amsterdam, Nairobi-Jomo Kenyatta, Singapore
Saudia Cargo Brussels, Dhaka, Frankfurt, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Houston-Intercontinental, Jeddah, Milan-Malpensa, New York-JFK, Riyadh, Thiruvananthapuram, Vienna

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.

Airport infrastructure[11] Infrastructure details for King Fahd International Airport
Aspect Details
Runways 2
Runway length 4,000 m (13,123 ft)
Runway width 60 m (197 ft)
Runway shoulders 7.5 m (25 ft) x 2
Runway paved blast pads 120 m (394 ft) x 2
Taxiway width 23 m (75 ft)
Taxiway shoulders 11 m (36 ft) x 2
Cross taxiway width 30 m (98 ft)
Cross taxiway shoulders 12 m (39 ft) x 2
Large-sized aircraft stands 12 + 8 royal terminal
Medium-sized aircraft stands 5
Small-sized aircraft stands 7
Cargo aircraft stands 3 (Large)
General aviation stands 14
Helipads 2 (1 General aviation + 1 Royal terminal)

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 the runways at Dammam Airport meet Code F requirements; 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.

Cargo

The two-story air cargo building is constructed on an area of 39,500 m2 (425,000 sq ft) and has a capacity of 94,000 t (93,000 long tons; 104,000 short 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 t (173,000 long tons; 194,000 short tons) per year.

Control Tower

The control tower stands 85.5 m (281 ft) 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 (85,700 sq ft), and it contains the following three main sections:

Car parking

The total area of the car park is 176,752 m2 (1,902,540 sq ft), distributed among three covered floors. The parking area accommodates 4,930 cars. There are no long term parking

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

The parking rates is SAR 2 for the first 72 hours, and SR 1 per hour afterwards. There is no ceiling rates

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, in addition to some remote pump stations, using Boeing 737 and Embraer ERJ-170LR 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.

Nursery and landscaping

King Fahd International Airport has its own plant nursery with a total area of 215,579 m2 (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

At present, around 9 million passengers use King Fahd International Airport annually[12]

Statistics for King Fahd International Airport (excluding general aviation)
Year Total Passengers % International Passenger Growth Total Cargo (tons) Commercial Aircraft Movements Movements Growth
2001 2,542,000 41% Increase 0.4% 55,088 23,312 Decrease −2.5%
2002 2,578,000 39% Increase 1.4% 53,029 23,281 Decrease −0.1%
2003 2,613,000 40% Increase 1.4% 48,634 23,308 Increase 0.1%
2004 2,782,000 41% Increase 6.5% 48,065 23,778 Increase 2.0%
2005 3,013,000 40% Increase 8.3% 49,633 24,457 Increase 2.9%
2006 3,341,000 43% Increase 10.9% 59,610 29,162 Increase 19.2%
2007 3,841,000 41% Increase 15.0% 66,621 39,265 Increase 34.6%
2008 3,885,000 47% Increase 1.1% 95,862 40,776 Increase 3.9%
2009 4,149,000 48% Increase 6.8% 82,944 41,079 Increase 0.7%
2010 4,569,000 52% Increase 10.1% 82,865 45,512 Increase 10.8%
2011 5,267,000 56% Increase 15.3% 82,256 50,936 Increase 11.9%
2012 6,136,000 56% Increase 16.5% 102,826 55,825 Increase 9.6%
2013 7,311,000 55% Increase 19.1% 121,655 60,994 Increase 9.3%
2014 8,248,000 54% Increase 12.8% 115,830 66,966 Increase 9.8%

References

{{cite web | url =http://www.world-airport-codes.com/saudi-arabia/king-fahd-international-airport-11393.html | title =Location of the Airport | publisher =world-airport-codes}}</ref>

[12] [13]; -webkit-column-width: [14] [12] [13]; column-width: [14] [12] [13]; list-style-type: decimal;">

  1. KFIA project summary, retrieved 29 December 2011
  2. King Fahd International Airport, Airport Technology, retrieved 29 December 2011
  3. Craig Glenday. "Guinness World Records 2013". Ed. Random House LLC, 2013. ISBN 9780345547118. P. 320
  4. Data Project Data. King Fahd International Airport. KFIA, Dammam, Eastern Province – Saudi Arabia. Total Airport Area 77,600 Hectares; Developer Areas; Total: 4,265 Hectares; Airport: 3,675 Hectares; Construction ; Support/Utility Plants: 51 Hectares; Community :80 Hectares
  5. http://airlineroute.net/2015/08/19/9p-dmm-sep15/
  6. http://www.airindiaexpress.in/images/COK-DMM%2002.jpg
  7. Ghattas, Abir. "Yemen's No Fly Zone: Thousands of Yemenis are Stranded Abroad". Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  8. http://airlineroute.net/2015/12/01/xy-krt-jan16/
  9. http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/04/26/13/pal-fly-11-new-intl-destinations-year
  10. Etihad Crystal Cargo Schedule
  11. 1 2 3 4 "Statistics 2014" (PDF). General Authority of Civil Aviation KSA.
  12. 1 2 3 "Destinations Worldwide". theAirDB.
  13. 1 2 "Location of the Airport". world-airport-codes.

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