Air traffic across Saudi airports increased 15% y-o-y to 128 mn passengers in 2024, according to Gaca’s air traffic report (pdf). The Kingdom’s airports also saw 11% y-o-y growth in flight numbers to 905k during the same period, with a 16% y-o-y rise in air connectivity to 170 global destinations.

The breakdown: KSA’s four main airports accounted for 82% of total air traffic, with the following passenger distributions:

  • Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport handled 49.1 mn passengers — the highest among all airports — accounting for 38% of all total passengers in Saudi air traffic. This amounts to 98% of the airport’s total capacity of roughly 50 mn passengers.
  • Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport handled the second most passengers at nearly 38 mn, at roughly 29% of total passengers. This makes up 96.4% of the airport’s capacity of 39 mn passengers.
  • Dammam’s King Fahd International Airport came in third place, handling almost 13 mn passengers, or around 10% of total passengers. The airport utilized 101% of its capacity, exceeding the total capacity of 12.6 mn passengers.
  • Medina’s Prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz International Airport handled 11 mn passengers, or around 9% of total passengers. The airport utilized 122% of its 9 mn passenger capacity.

As for air cargo: Saudi airports recorded a 34% y-o-y boost in air cargo, reaching 1.2 mn tons in 2024, with 1.17 mn tons handled by the Kingdom’s largest-three airports. King Khalid International Airport handled 573k tons, while King Abdulaziz International Airport handled 461k tons, and King Fahd International Airport handled 140k tons.

COMPLAINTS IN JANUARY-

Air carrier complaints rose 5.4% y-o-y in January 2025 to around 1.5k, up from 1.4k in the same period last year, according to our own calculations based on a report from Gaca. Meanwhile, airport complaints increased 19% y-o-y during the same month to 129.

Saudia Airlines achieved the lowest complaint rate in January, with 26 complaints registered per 100k passengers, compared to last year’s 29. Flynas came in second with 32 complaints registered per 100k passengers, up from last year’s 21 complaints. Flyadeal landed in third place, reporting 37 complaints per 100k passengers, down from 51 last year.

Three-way tie for airports: Among international airports handling upwards of 6 mn passengers annually, a three-way tie saw King Khaled International Airport, Prince Mohammed International Airport, and King Abdulaziz International Airport all report one complaint per 100k passengers each. King Abdulaziz had the highest actual number of actual complaints, at 41.

For international airports handling less than 6 mn passengers annually, Taif International Airport and Prince Sultan International Airport both reported one complaint per 100k passengers, the lowest for the month. Najran International Airport logged six complaints per 100k passengers, the highest among the group.

ALSO- Aviation joins the digital push: Gaca has launched Ajwa, a digital platform to streamline services, enhance efficiency, and foster a comprehensive digital environment in the aviation sector, it said in a post on X.

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