New GACA chief called on to speed up regional development

Faisal Bin Hamad Al-Suqair only took over the presidency of GACA last Tuesday but is already facing pressure from landowners in Medina who are unhappy at the prices being quoted for their land which is being appropriated for expansion to the airport  the issue is currently suspended between property owners and the valuation committee which is made up of representatives from the Medina Mayoralty and the ministries of Justice, Finance and Interior.

But while Medina’s airport project is being slowed down by the locals residents in Al-Ula want to see faster progress at its Prince Abdul Majeed Bin Abdul Aziz Airport,

Sources in the region say that only the final phase of the project requires completion and the locals are calling for an increase in domestic and international flights.
“The full operation of the airport, which currently only serves small international flights, would see a long-awaited end to the region’s 120,000 residents having to travel long distances by land to reach the nearest airport,” said journalist Khaled Al-Shalahi.

  “Only small aircraft from abroad use the airport at the moment,” said another resident of the region. “There are no internal flights connecting to other areas or cities of the country. All they are waiting for is the scheduling.”
The Al-Ula region is the location of Mada’in Saleh, one of the Kingdom’s most prominent tourist sites and recognised as the sister city to Petra just 150 miles away across the Jordanian border

According to UNESCO   the archaeological sites there are some of the most important in the world, and local residents claim the area has the potential to be turned into a huge resort and a large attraction for tourism from inside Saudi Arabia and abroad.”

The delay in bringing the airport into full operation, locals say, means a loss of large potential revenues from tourism.

“We hope it can be finished as soon as possible. It will also mean it will be much easier for us to get to Riyadh or Jeddah and Medina, which a lot of people here have to do when they need medical treatment,” another local said.