RAC announces post-pandemic recovery at KKIA

Passenger traffic rebounded in March 2022 to pre-Covid-19 levels, and commercial sales significantly exceeded those achieved in March 2019

KKIA Terminal 1

Riyadh Airports Company (RAC), operator of King Khalid International Airport (KKIA) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, has announced that passenger traffic has rebounded to pre-Covid-19 levels, and commercial revenues in March 2022 topped those recorded in March 2019.

Commercial sales across all categories in the airport have delivered substantial growth over the same month in 2019, with duty free once again the stand out performer, delivering 62% growth in sales for the month (and 243% growth against 2021). March was the highest duty free sales month ever in KKIA, and contained the new highest and second highest sales days recorded so far.

Other categories also performed strongly with F&B up 12%, retail and services 14% and car parking up by 29% March 2022, all compared to March 2019.

RAC CEO, Mohammed bin Abdullah Al-Maghlouth said: “I am delighted with the robust performance and full recovery at KKIA. This illustrates the underlying growth which we will continue to build progressively, as we work toward KSA’s Aviation Strategy and Vision 2030”.

RAC Acting VP Commercial, Abdulaziz Al Asaker said: “These are exceptional results and I thank the efforts of our team, airlines and commercial partners in delivering industry leading results across all areas of the business.

“Whilst we are not expecting this substantial level of commercial growth every month, as the recovery builds across the region and in our key markets, I am confident we will continue to see new records, building on the underlying strength of recovery as the year progresses”.