Fahad Al Harbi, CEO, Dammam Airport Company (Daco) • Interview

What has this era of reduced travel meant for Daco as an airport management company?

I joined Dammam International Airport in the middle of the pandemic, and since then things have only gone up. Around 50% of travel to and from Dammam is domestic. In 2019, we saw around 11 million passengers, and to achieve this number we need at least 50,000 passengers per day. During the lockdown, Dammam Airport focused on local transport when the Ministry of Health was transporting people from one city to another for quarantine. Then, when local flights resumed, Dammam saw around 16,000 passengers per day, which is remarkable for domestic passengers. During the lockdown, we updated our five-year strategy, reviewed our projects, and approved some of them that we still launch in 2021.

What does the future look like with regards to your physical infrastructure?

King Fahd International Airport is the largest airport in the world by size. It is more than 776sqkm, which is bigger than some countries, so we have plenty of land. Right now, we seek to work on developing that land to make sure it is utilized in a way that makes more money. One of the infrastructure projects we are developing right now is a cargo village, and we are adding a logistics city. We are also considering linking the airport to the ports and railways in an efficient way. During the pandemic, cargo was flying to transport medicine, vaccines, and food. Aviation did moved a great deal of cargo during the pandemic. We will also develop the area to be more cargo efficient. To do this, we will need a great deal of infrastructure projects, and the most important ones that have been approved will start this year.