Saudi Airport Exhibition opens in Riyadh

As the Kingdom work its way on a US$147 billion expansion of its transport sector and expand and upgrade 29 international and domestic airports to serve 330 million travellers by 2030 and shore up facilities at two large mega hubs in Riyadh and Jeddah, the airport industry stakeholders are head over heels to tap the Middle East’s largest aviation market that will see the fastest passenger traffic growth until 2040. Officials work towards generating US$100 billion in investments in the aviation sector by 2030 as they work to increase connectivity to 250 destinations and double the air cargo capacity to 4.5 million tonnes to deliver US$75 billion to its GDP by 2030. 

The exhibition is the B2B platform focusing on expansion, innovation and collaboration to help one of the world’s top 5 airport growth markets. The Platinum Sponsor is Matarat, a holding company that operates and handles the investments of the General Authority of Civil Aviation, the Kingdom’s aviation regulator. The Gold Sponsors are APSCO and Saudi Sicli. The Silver Sponsor is PPMDC. The Session Sponsor is AECOM. The Lanyard Sponsor is Bechtel, and the Badge Sponsor is Ground Handling Logistics.

Over 150 international companies have pitched their attractive pavilions at the show, coming from more than 25 countries including 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, , METCO, PPMDC, Ground Handling Logistics, Nesma United Industries, AQESA, Trans Cities Trading, Hoshan Aviation & Defence, and MAFA.

The only airports-dedicated show in the Kingdom’s history has brought under one roof airport operators, infrastructure developers, ANSPs, ground handlers, security experts and airport investment companies. Participants gained valuable insights about the commercial and investment opportunities from the key stakeholders in this burgeoning market. 

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 discussed 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.