The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has four major international airports. They are King Khalid International Airport (RUH), King Abdulaziz International Airport (JED), King Fahd International Airport (DMM) and Prince Muhammed Bin Abdulaziz International Airport (MED). Before the COVID-19 pandemic, they were growing steadily, with average annual growth rates of 9.46% and 7.17% for annual passenger volume and flights, respectively. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), terminals at both JED and RUH were experiencing congestion owing to infrastructure limitations.
Fellow INora is a fellow at KAPSARC specializing in transport economics research and energy consumption in the transport sector. Her areas…Nora is a fellow at KAPSARC specializing in transport economics research and energy consumption in the transport sector. Her areas of interest include energy and transport economics, policy analysis, energy transitions, and sustainable transport. She holds an M.Sc. in Maritime and Air Transport Management, focusing on maritime transport economics research, from the University of Antwerp in Belgium and a B.S.B.A. in Business Administration and International Relations from The American University in Washington D.C.
Senior FellowAbdel is a geospatial leader, certified in GIS (GISP), with over 18 years of experience in GIS and spatial data…Abdel is a geospatial leader, certified in GIS (GISP), with over 18 years of experience in GIS and spatial data management. He has a proven track record of leading and delivering enterprise GIS projects for international corporations in North America and the Middle East.
His work focuses on spatial economic modeling to better understand and forecast the interactions between economic activities, energy demand, land use, and transportation in urban areas.
Before KAPSARC, Abdel worked for world-renowned, global companies, such as Accenture and ESRI, in North America and the Middle East. He served as a technical leader and a senior consultant, guiding clients in the energy sector on how to extract value out of geospatial data assets and GIS investments. Abdel holds an M.Sc. in geomatics engineering from the University of Calgary, Canada.