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Abu Dhabi /Â WAM
Airport International Group (AIG) – a consortium led by Abu Dhabi-based financial services company Invest AD, the Abu Dhabi Investment Company, completed the second phase of a project to rehabilitate, expand and operate Queen Alia International Airport (QAIA) in Amman, Jordan.
The inauguration ceremony was conducted in the presence of the Crown Prince of Jordan HRH Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah II as well as Jordanian Prime Minister Hani Al-Mulki, Jordan’s Minister of Transport Yahya Kasabi, as well as a large number of ministers, senators, ambassadors, and executives of aviation companies and local community organisations.
The second phase of QAIA’s New Terminal Project adds over 43,000 square metres to the airport’s total area, raising its annual passenger capacity from the current 7 million to up to 12 million passengers, with future plans to increase capacity even further to 16 million passengers annually.
As a result of the expansion, which was carried out at a cost of US$214 million, the number of gates in operation at QAIA has nearly doubled from 13 to 25. Also, two fixed link bridges can accommodate the world’s largest airplane, the Airbus A380.
The expansion’s cutting-edge facilities also include two new business lounges, two new duty-free areas and eight new prayer rooms, as well as larger monitors, additional charging stations and an upgraded Wi-Fi system. In addition, 10 additional travelators, 24 escalators and 18 lifts have been installed, to enhance QAIA’s efficient transit process and allow passengers to make their way quickly and comfortably across the airport.
Chief Executive Officer of Invest AD, Faras Al Ramahi, said, “This much-anticipated completion of QAIA’s second expansion phase is an extraordinary milestone, and a result of an ambitious vision and
a successful partnership between the group and the Jordanian
Government.”
Since embarking on the expansion of the airport with the New Terminal in March 2013, QAIA has had many achievements. It hit new passenger traffic milestones with record-breaking months in both 2015 and 2016, and has grown its airline network, and gained significant ground in the rankings of the Airports Council International’s (ACI) Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Survey, the world’s leading airport passenger satisfaction benchmark programme.
The number of passengers the airport can accommodate increased from 3.8 per year in 2007 to 12 million passengers. The airport has further bolstered its position as Jordan’s prime gateway to the world by receiving, for the second consecutive year, being awarded first place for its performance in the 2014 and 2015 ACI ASQ Surveys in the category of ‘Best Airport by Region: Middle East’, and ‘Best Improvement by Region: Middle East’ category, based on its 2014 performance.