UK-based Mace Wins The Delivery Partner Role on the World’s Largest Airport Project

UK-based Mace has won the delivery partner role on the King Salman International Airport scheme, the world’s largest airport project. The roles of a delivery partner typically involve aspects such as assisting the client with the development of the project. This includes aspects such as cost consultation and project management. It also entails design management and procurement advice as well. The UK-headquartered company, Mace, has extensive experience in airport projects over the years. The construction company worked on London’s Heathrow Airport for over 30 years. In the last year, Mace was appointed as the delivery partner on three major infrastructure improvement projects in Heathrow. These aspects and ideals make Mace a good fit as a delivery partner in the world’s largest Airport project.

Project Summary

Location: Saudi Arabia

Capacity: 120 million passengers

Area of Airport: 57 Kilometers

Number of runways: 6

Project duration: 6 years

The Scope of the World’s Largest Airport Project

The World’s largest airport project, the King Salman International Airport has brought in several companies to facilitate its implementation. The project has reeled in Foster and partners to facilitate the design of the project’s master plan. The company is also a UK-based company. The architectural firm has already started working on the concept designs for the airport’s building. US-based Jacobs has been offered the opportunity to facilitate the infrastructure design of the airport. The project covers an area of approximately 57 kilometers that allows for six parallel runways. It will include existing terminals at King Khalid International Airport (KKIA). The world’s largest airport project will also include 12 square kilometers of airport support facilities and other logistics real estate.

The Capacity of the King Salman International Airport Once Complete

According to GlobalData, the project is the world’s largest airport project and if completed by 2030, it will be the world’s largest operating airport. In terms of passenger capacity, the airport aims to accommodate up to 120 million passengers by 2030. It also aims to be able to hold a capacity of 185 million passengers by 2050 annually. The airport project also aims to process 3.5 million tonnes of cargo annually by the year 2050. There were contract awards for construction work at KKIA last year, including the renovation of the airport’s Terminal 1 and Terminal 2. The project was awarded to Turkiye-based IC Ictas and local company Al Rashid Trading & Contracting. The joint venture finished renovating terminals 3 and 4 earlier this year.

The State of the Region on the Airport Project

Saudi Arabia plans to invest $100bn in its aviation sector including the world’s largest airport project. Riyadh’s Saudi Aviation Strategy envisages tripling Saudi Arabia’s annual passenger traffic to 330 million travelers by 2030. It also aims to increase air cargo traffic to 4.5 million tonnes. Furthermore, it seeks to raise the country’s total air connections to more than 250 destinations. The global airport projects pipeline, as tracked by GlobalData, is worth $580.4bn. This is slightly less than the $588.4bn pipeline recorded in Q4 2023. The global pipeline is dominated by projects in the advanced stages of development. Of these, 78.2% of projects are in the pre-execution and execution phases. Some of these projects entail the King Salman International Airport, the world’s largest airport project.