Turner & Townsend and AMCL to lead major asset management upgrade at Jeddah’s airport
Jeddah Airports Company, the company that manages and operates King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, has selected Turner & Townsend and its subsidiary AMCL as its partner for a major asset management project.
King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA) is one of the region’s larger airports, serving more than 53 million passengers annually. The airport is important for business and people in the region, but also serves as the principal gateway for millions of pilgrims travelling to Makkah and Madinah each year for Hajj and Umrah.
The airport’s new asset management project will introduce an asset management system aligned with the international ISO 55001 standard. The system will house all of the airport’s assets, including terminals, airfield infrastructure, baggage handling systems and building assets, down to individual equipment and other operational assets.
The project is regarded as strategically important because the condition of assets is a key factor shaping the airport’s operational reliability, safety and passenger experience. With the help of the new system, Jeddah Airports Company will be able to make better decisions around asset operations, maintenance and renewal across the full asset lifecycle.
“The approval of our inaugural Asset Management Policy represents a significant commitment by our leadership to manage the airport’s assets throughout their entire lifecycle. It establishes a consistent approach to balancing performance, risk, cost, and sustainability while ensuring our infrastructure continues to support safe, reliable, and efficient airport operations,” said Hossam Aljahdali, Senior Manager at Jeddah Airports Company.
ISO 55001 provides the international benchmark against which the approach is being built and will be independently assessed on a continuous basis.
Aljahdali added: “Our journey towards ISO 55001 is not simply about achieving certification; it is about embedding asset management into the way we make decisions every day. By strengthening governance, improving data-driven decision-making, and aligning our investments with long-term operational objectives, we are building the capability needed to support future growth.”
The advisory and delivery partner
The programme is being delivered in partnership with Turner & Townsend, which has staffed its project team with members from its own ranks as well as from AMCL, its asset management advisory subsidiary.
Alberto Carrera, Asset Management Director Lead at AMCL, stated: “What Jeddah Airports Company has taken on is more demanding than an efficiency exercise – it is changing how decisions about assets are made across the whole organisation, and holding those decisions to an international standard.”
“Our role is to help build the system, the capability and the evidence base behind the leadership’s commitment, so the benefits – better-informed investment, more dependable performance and greater long-term resilience – continue to be realised by Jeddah Airports Company’s own teams long after our involvement ends.”
The programme has already achieved a number of promising early milestones. Following the approval of the Asset Management Policy, a governance structure for asset management decision-making has been established at executive level, while development of the Strategic Asset Management Plan and the first Asset Management Plans for critical airport systems is under way.
The Asset Management Policy, issued in both Arabic and English, commits the organisation to eleven guiding principles spanning safety and regulatory compliance, leadership accountability, whole-life value, information governance, sustainability and resilience, and continual improvement. “It is aligned with our corporate strategy, Saudi Vision 2030 and the National Aviation Strategy,” said Aljahdali.
Jeddah’s growth plan
The project is one of many initiatives King Abdulaziz International Airport is undertaking as the airport prepares for a major growth phase. Jeddah Airports Company CEO Mazen Johar recently revealed that the airport aims to double its passenger volume in the coming years, implying an ambition to serve more than 100 million passengers annually.
To make this happen, the airport earlier this month announced a $31 billion airport expansion package, aimed at areas including terminal expansions and concourse development, runway and taxiway enhancements, landside infrastructure improvements, support facility development, and upgrades to baggage systems and utilities.
