KUWAIT International Airport is to undergo expansion which will increase capacity from six million passengers per year to around 20 million.
The project, through Kuwait Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), involves the construction of a new terminal, which is currently in the design stage. Infrastructure works should be completed by 2014 and the new facility is scheduled to be operational by November 2016, it will be connected to the existing terminal building via a tunnel.
The two existing runways are expected to be lengthened by around 600 m and a third runway will be constructed.
The electrical infrastructure of the airport will also be upgraded to include a new control and communication system. A new aerospace system plan will be developed consisting of a control centre and national meteorology centre to improve the airport’s operating performance and to meet international standards.
The airport is currently operating at capacity and DGCA president Fawaz Al-Farah told Oxford Business Group that, although interim measures have been put in place to ease congestion, only expansion presents a long term answer.
“With a projected annual growth rate in passengers of 10 per cent over the next 10 years, we have to expand to be able to cater to the increase in passenger traffic and cargo movement,” he said.
Kuwait International Airport saw around 8.3 million arrivals in 2010, up three per cent on the previous year.