Gulf Construction Online - New Egyptian airport under expansion

Airport Construction

Marsa Al Alam airport ... built to cater to the resort area at Port Ghalib.

New Egyptian airport under expansion

01 July 2005

Marsa Alam Airport – constructed as a part of a $1.2 billion project to create a mega Red Sea resort area at Port Ghalib, Egypt – is currently being expanded to boost its handling capacity from 600 to 1,200 passengers per hour.

The airport, built in 2001 to transform the fishing village at Marsa Alam into a world-class tourist destination, is currently under an extensive expansion programme including the terminal building and the runway.
Work is under way simultaneously at both the runway and the terminal building, which will upgrade the airport’s handling capacity from five aircraft per hour to 10 when this expansion phase is fully functional in 2007.
The airport – as with the massive Port Ghalib integrated resort community – is being developed by the MA Kharafi Group of Kuwait under a 40-year build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract.
The airport now offers a wide array of facilities including a unique duty-free shopping area, food and beverage outlets, ATM and other banking services, 24-hour medical and security services, round-the-clock custom operations and separate VIP and private aircraft passenger lounges.
Following the increasing pressure on the facilities at the airport with the volume of tourist traffic constantly on the rise, the developers had proposed improvement plans to the Egyptian authorities.
“We are happy the government has accepted our early expansion proposal. The authorities have been very supportive ever since they awarded the MA Kharafi Group the airport’s BOT concession contract for 40 years,” a spokesman for MA Kharafi says.
The airport is designed by the Netherlands Airport Consultants and has Engineering Consultants Group (ECG) as the engineers for the project while the service provision is the responsibility of Caltex-Emaas-Iberotel.
The new Marsa Alam International Airport is the first privately owned and operated international commercial airport in Egypt and is the first airport in aviation history operating under a complete BOT system. EMAK Marsa Alam for Management and Operation of Airports, a subsidiary of the MA Kharafi Group of Kuwait, had successfully negotiated the 40-year BOT concession agreement with the Egyptian Civil Aviation Authority. The new airport is operated under a separate agreement by Aeroports de Paris.
The new airport is just 3 km away from the luxury resort, which has registered a high rate of visitors from all parts of the world. It has a 3-km-long runway with a 45 m breadth and is capable of handling Boeing 747 jets.
Currently, the terminal building has a total area of 6,000 sq m and after the first phase expansion this will increase to around 12,000 sq m.
At the moment, the airport is handling an average of 35 flights a week and 40,000 passengers a month, the spokesman says.
The up-class resort community at Port Ghalib spans over 5 km of pristine beachfront and has a total area of 8 million sq m. It comprises nine villages, featuring 23 hotels, a 1,000-berth marina, an18-hole golf course, yacht club, residential and luxury properties, retail and commercial outlets, entertainment facilities and services.
The development’s first phase includes three Sun International hotels, 400 apartments, 20 Arabian Villas, a port with a dockside harbour (500 berths - phase1), yacht club and spa, along with a vibrant town centre and a corniche around the marina area.
On the corniche will be shops, galleries, boutiques, restaurants and bistros, nightclubs, discos and a casino due to be completed by end of 2006.
In addition, there will be a conference centre and festival hall, along with a combined desert and links golf course
The private marina will not only be one of the largest in the Middle East, but Egypt’s first privately-owned international sea-gateway for yachts wishing to visit Egypt.
The different components are now under different stages of construction.
The new community aims to be recognised as a model for environmental conservation, cultural preservation, design creativity, beauty and diversity of entertainment experiences and is reaping the benefits of being in close proximity to the Marsa Alam International Airport, which is already expanding to enhance the facilities for the tourists to this exciting destination.