Turkish airport management firm wins Medinah airport tender

ISTANBUL (A.A) - October 30, 2011 - Turkish TAV Airports Holding wins Saudi Arabia's Medinah Airport tender along with its partners Al Rajhi and Saudi Oger. TAV Airports Holding, its consortium partners Al Rajhi and Saudi Oger signed a contract with Saudi Arabia's civil aviation authority GACA to increase the capacity of Medinah Airport on the basis of build-transfer-operate model.  "I believe that increasing capacity of Medinah airport with Pilgrimage and Umrah flights from Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir and mutual communication and coordination will contribute to Turkish and Saudi Arabian aviation industry," TAV Airports President and CEO M. Sani sener said during the signing ceremony.  The current 4 million passenger capacity at Medinah Airport will be increased to 8 million with the addition of the new terminal building to be built. The TAV Airports Holding-Saudi Oger Ltd-Al Rajhi Holding consortium will have the operating rights of the airport for 25 years. The project is about to cost 1-1.5 billion USD and be completed by the first half of 2015. TAV Airports, one of the world's leading airport operators, operates Istanbul Ataturk Airport, Ankara Esenboga Airport, Izmir Adnan Menderes Airport International Terminal and Antalya Gazipasa Airport in Turkey as well as two airports each in Georgia, Tunisia and Macedonia. TAV Airports also operates in other areas of airport operations such as duty-free, food and beverage services, ground services, IT, security and management services.  The company also operates duty free, food and beverage and other commercial areas at Riga Airport in Latvia. TAV Airports, together with its subsidiaries, provides services to approximately 420 thousand flights and 48 million passengers a year.