Riyadh to award Terminal 6 contract by mid-2026

27 November 2025

 

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman International Airport Development Company (KSIADC) is targeting mid-2026 to award the contract for the construction of Terminal 6 at King Salman International airport (KSIA) in Riyadh.

KSIADC, which is backed by Saudi sovereign wealth vehicle, the Public Investment Fund, plans to deliver the package on an early contractor involvement (ECI) basis.

MEED understands that the ECI timeframe will be around six months.

The ECI process requires selected contractors to submit methodologies for the project and a design proposal.

In July, MEED exclusively reported that several contractor consortiums had recently submitted proposals for a contract to develop the first phase of Terminal 6 and the Iconic Terminal at KSIA.

MEED understands that the consortium formations are:

  • Albawani / Kalyon / Cengiz (local/Turkiye/Turkiye)
  • China State Construction Engineering Corporation  / El-Seif Engineering Contracting / Midmac (China/local/Qatar)
  • FCC Construction / Almabani / Ic Ictas / Al-Rashid Trading & Contracting (Spain/local/Turkiye/local)
  • Modern Building Leaders / Powerchina / Metallurgical Construction Corporation (local/China/China)
  • UCC Holding / Consolidated Contractors Company (Qatar/Greece)
  • Orascom / Shibh Al-Jazira Contracting Company / Larsen & Toubro (Egypt/local/India)
  • Samsung / Nesma & Partners / Limak / Alayuni Investment & Contracting (South Korea/local/Turkiye/local)
  • WeBuild / TAV / Algihaz (Italy/Turkiye/local)

In May, MEED reported that US firm Bechtel Corporation had been appointed as the delivery partner for the terminals at KSIA.

According to local media reports, KSIADC’s acting CEO, Marco Mejia, said the project developer has completed the project’s masterplan.

The reports added that Terminal 6 will boost the airport’s capacity by 40 million passengers.

The project is expected to be delivered before the start of the Expo 2030 Riyadh event.

In August last year, KSIADC confirmed that it had signed up several architectural and design firms for the various elements of the project.

KSIADC said that UK-based Foster+Partners will design the airport’s masterplan, including the terminals, six runways and a multi-asset real estate area.

US-based engineering firm Jacobs will provide specialist consultancy services for the masterplan and the design of the new runways.

The client also confirmed the appointment of UK-based engineering firm Mace for the delivery partner role on the project.

The airspace design consultancy contract was awarded to local firm Nera.

Project scale

The project covers an area of about 57 square kilometres (sq km), allowing for six parallel runways, and will include the existing terminals at King Khalid International airport. It will also include 12 sq km of airport support facilities, residential and recreational facilities, retail outlets and other logistics real estate.

If the project is completed on time in 2030, it will become the world’s largest operating airport in terms of passenger capacity, according to UK analytics firm GlobalData.

The airport aims to accommodate up to 120 million passengers by 2030 and 185 million by 2050. The goal for cargo is to process 3.5 million tonnes a year by 2050.

Saudi Arabia plans to invest $100bn in its aviation sector. Riyadh’s Saudi Aviation Strategy, announced by the General Authority of Civil Aviation, aims to triple Saudi Arabia’s annual passenger traffic to 330 million travellers by 2030.

It also aims to increase air cargo traffic to 4.5 million tonnes and raise the country’s total air connections to more than 250 destinations.

https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/15166344/main.jpg
Yasir Iqbal
Related Articles