Prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz
International Airport

Yes. The main runway is 14,222 feet, the longest in this library outside Las Vegas, with ICAO Category 10 fire cover and full international facilities. There is no airport slot or PPR; the national GACA landing permit is the approval that governs the trip. It is the arrival for pilgrims and visitors to Madinah, the second holy city.

Elevation and pilgrim traffic. The field sits at 2,151 feet and Madinah summers are extremely hot, so density altitude on a daytime departure is a real consideration. The airport also receives the largest aircraft flying during Hajj and Umrah peaks. A 14,222 foot runway and Category 10 fire cover follow directly from those two facts.

Yes, 18/36 at 10,007 feet. It is the airport's original runway and remains in use. A third runway, 15/33, closed in 1986 and was later converted into apron. The 14,222 foot runway 17/35 was built as part of the redevelopment that followed the 2011 concession.

TAV Airports Holding, under a 25 year concession agreement signed with the General Authority of Civil Aviation in October 2011. A consortium of TAV, Saudi Oger and Alrajhi Holding was selected to expand and run the airport, and the arrangement was Saudi Arabia's first full public-private partnership in the aviation sector, with an initial construction cost of about 1.2 billion US dollars.

Yes. Landing and overflight permits for non-scheduled flights are issued by the General Authority of Civil Aviation and obtained through approved local agents within the Kingdom. Since 1 May 2025 foreign operators may also fly charter between Saudi cities without a local partner, which matters for the very common itinerary that arrives at Jeddah and departs from Madinah, or the reverse.

Jeddah for Makkah, which has no airport of its own. Madinah for the second holy city. Many Umrah itineraries arrive at one and depart from the other, and under the 2025 rules a foreign-registered aircraft can now fly the domestic leg between them without a local partner. We plan the two together rather than as separate trips.

No, handling is not mandatory in the regulatory sense, though every private movement uses an agent. Jet A-1 is available.

Substantially, though Jeddah carries the larger share of pilgrim traffic. During Hajj and the busiest Umrah periods, particularly Ramadan, the airport operates at a much higher intensity and a private arrival needs planning as a peak-season operation: parking confirmed ahead, handling secured, and realistic expectations about ground time.

In 2007, when the airport was granted international status as part of the decision to expand and privatise it. Before that it was a domestic field serving the city, with origins in the 1950s.

2,151 feet. It is one of three Saudi fields in this library above 2,000 feet, alongside Riyadh at 2,049 feet and Qassim at 2,126 feet, and one of the reasons the main runway is as long as it is.

The original airport serving Madinah dates to the 1950s. By 1972 it operated two runways, 18/36, which remains in use, and 15/33, which closed in 1986 and became apron. International status came in 2007, the TAV consortium was selected the same year, and the 25 year concession was signed in October 2011, funding the new terminal and the 14,222 foot runway that define the airport today.

Arabia Standard Time, UTC+3, all year. Saudi Arabia does not observe daylight saving.