King Fahd
International Airport

Yes, and as of February 2026 it is the best-equipped airport in the Kingdom to receive them. Two parallel runways of 13,123 feet, ICAO Category 9 fire cover, and Saudi Arabia's first dedicated general aviation terminal, opened by Universal Aviation. Dammam is slot coordinated and handling is mandatory, so both of those sit on top of the national GACA permit.

A purpose-built FBO and terminal, formally inaugurated in February 2026 and operated by Universal Aviation, the first dedicated general aviation terminal in Saudi Arabia. The main terminal is about 42,000 square feet with an adjacent hangar of roughly 20,000 square feet. It offers two VIP lounges, a pilot lounge, a conference room, showers and offices, and on-site customs, immigration and quarantine, which is the part that changes the arrival experience most.

Because it means a private arrival clears without going through the main terminal. At most Saudi airports private passengers are processed alongside scheduled traffic. At Dammam, since February 2026, they clear at the FBO. For a business trip into the Eastern Province that removes the single largest source of ground delay.

Yes, and that is a difference from Riyadh and Jeddah, which have no airport slot requirement. At Dammam a slot must be arranged in addition to the GACA landing permit, and ground handling is mandatory. Neither is onerous, but both belong in the booking rather than on the day.

Two parallel runways, 16R/34L and 16L/34R, each 4,000 metres, about 13,123 feet, in asphalt concrete. Field elevation is 72 feet. Nothing in business aviation is constrained by the runways.

The Eastern Province: Dammam, Dhahran, Al Khobar and Jubail, the centre of the Saudi oil industry and home to Aramco. The King Fahd Causeway to Bahrain is close, and a good deal of traffic uses Dammam as the mainland side of a Bahrain trip. Riyadh is about four hours away by road and is a separate destination entirely.

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. At Dammam the slot and the mandatory handling are arranged alongside it. Since 1 May 2025 foreign operators may also fly charter between Saudi cities without a local partner.

Planning began in 1976 under the Airports Development Program as the third and final of the Kingdom's major international airports. Yamasaki and Associates and Boeing completed the master plan in 1977 and construction began in 1983. The basic infrastructure was finished by the end of 1990.

Yes. With the infrastructure complete but the airport not yet open to airlines, the US-led coalition used King Fahd in early 1991 to base military aircraft, including 144 A-10 Thunderbolt IIs and the AH-64 Apaches and CH-47 Chinooks of the 101st Airborne Division, before operations moved to Ahmad al-Jaber Air Base in Kuwait. That is why an airport that opened commercially in 1999 has two 13,123 foot runways and ramp on a military scale.

Commercial operations began in 1999, when the airlines moved from the old Dhahran International Airport. Until then Dhahran, much closer to the cities, had served the Eastern Province, and King Fahd sat largely complete but unused for civil traffic through most of the 1990s.

It is owned by the General Authority of Civil Aviation and operated by Dammam Airports Company. The new general aviation terminal is operated within that by Universal Aviation.

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