Riyadh's King Khalid airport to handle 600k tonnes of cargo annually after terminal construction

January 15, 2020: King Khalid International Airport (KKIA) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia will be capable of handling up to 600,000 tonnes of cargo annually, once completed. SATS Saudi Arabia Company has won a 25-year cargo terminal concession for the airport.

Construction of the SATS Cargo Terminal in KKIA will take place over two phases with the first phase expected to be completed in mid-2022. There will also be a purpose-built cold-chain facility for the special handling of temperature sensitive perishables and a dedicated lane for pharmaceutical products.

Alex Hungate, president and CEO of SATS said, “KKIA serves Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia, and handles close to 40 percent of air cargo volume in the Kingdom. Connected to our stations in Dammam and Oman, and our extensive Asian network, KKIA will extend SATS’ network of quality cargo corridors to offer our customers greater connectivity and quality assurance, while supporting Saudi Arabia’s rapidly growing cargo market and logistics infrastructure.”

SATS operates 10 cargo terminals in Asia in Beijing, Dammam, Ho Chi Minh, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Oman, and Singapore. In line with SATS’ vision to feed and connect Asia, the company enables greater traceability, efficiency, and speed through digitalising and linking its cargo operations. The investment in the Riyadh cargo 2 terminal concession is not expected to have any material impact on SATS’ net tangible assets per share and earnings per share for the current financial year.

The Riyadh cargo terminal will be the second cargo operation in Saudi Arabia for SATS, after its first win at King Fahd International Airport in Dammam in 2016.