Madinah airport to get extra runway
Prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Madinah will have a second expanded runway by the end of June, according to an official from the Kingdom’s aviation authority.
Khalid Al-Khaibari, spokesman of the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA), said the new runway would help ease air traffic congestion at the airport.
He told Arab News that Madinah airport has two runways. One is 3,050 meters, and the other is 3,850 meters long and 45 meters wide.
Madinah airport officials used the second one from July 20 to mid-November for Ramadan and Haj. It was closed again to allow workers to lengthen it to 4,250 meters and widen it to 60 meters.
Once completed, it would accommodate large planes such as the Airbus 380 and have an updated automated landing system, said Al-Khaibari.
The decision to operate the runway came after a Saudi Arabian Airlines plane traveling from Iran crash-landed at the airport on Jan. 5, injuring 29 passengers. The incident forced GACA to close the airport for 36 hours.
He said the accident resulted in heavy financial losses because the airport canceled 120 domestic and international flights. He said Saudi Arabian Airlines has called for additional runways to avoid future
problems.