King AbdulAZIZ
International Airport
(JED)
The main gateway to Makkah and Madinah for millions of Hajj and Umrah pilgrims every year. Located in Jeddah, 80–100 km from the Holy Mosque.
Jeddah: The City Behind the Airport
Before you reach Makkah, you pass through Jeddah — and it is worth knowing something about this city. Jeddah is not simply an airport layover. It is one of the great port cities of the Arab world, a commercial capital with a history stretching back over 2,500 years, and the gateway through which Islam’s pilgrimage route has flowed for centuries.
Jeddah sits on the eastern shore of the Red Sea in the Hijaz region. The city’s waterfront, the Corniche, stretches 30 km along one of the world’s most important maritime routes.
Saudi Arabia’s second-largest city after Riyadh. Home to over 4.7 million residents (2025 estimate), making it one of the largest cities in the Middle East.
Jeddah Islamic Port is the largest port on the Red Sea and the 2nd busiest in the Arab world. It handles 65% of Saudi Arabia’s sea imports, connecting Asia, Africa, and Europe via the Suez Canal.
Caliph Uthman ibn Affan designated Jeddah as the port of Makkah in 647 AD. For 14 centuries, pilgrims have arrived here by sea — and today by air — before continuing to the Holy City.
Under Saudi Vision 2030, Jeddah is expanding as a global logistics and tourism hub. Maersk recently opened the region’s largest integrated logistics zone here, investing $347 million.
Jeddah is approximately 80–100 km from Masjid Al Haram. The Haramain High-Speed Railway connects the two cities in under 30 minutes.
About the Airport
King AbdulAZIZ International Airport opened on 12 April 1981, replacing the older Kandara Airport in the southern part of the city. Named after the founder of Saudi Arabia, it covers 112 square kilometres — roughly the size of a small city — and features two parallel runways each 4,000 metres long, capable of handling the world’s largest aircraft.
In 2025, the airport reached a record 53.4 million passengers — its first time crossing the 50 million mark — placing it among the world’s 30 busiest airports. It is the primary hub for Saudia (Saudi Airlines) and serves as a base for budget carriers Flynas and Flyadeal. Over 130 international destinations are served directly.
The Three Active Terminals
The airport has three operational passenger terminals, each handling different types of traffic. All three are open year-round.
The newest and largest terminal, Terminal 1 is one of the biggest airport terminals in the world. It handles the majority of all flights at the airport — nearly all full-service international airlines, most domestic routes, and all Saudia operations. With plans to accommodate 80 million passengers by 2035, it is the heart of the airport.
Inside Terminal 1 you will find: 120 shops, Aerotel Jeddah (an airside hotel with 120 rooms), Emirates Lounge, Saudia First & Business Class lounge, gardens, self check-in kiosks, a pharmacy, and a full-service food court open 24 hours.
T-N
The North Terminal was the original international terminal, built in the 1970s. Today it primarily handles foreign low-cost carriers and some non-Saudia international airlines. Over time, many airlines have moved from the North Terminal to the newer Terminal 1.
Facilities include two 24-hour lounges (First Class and TasHeel Business), a barber shop, post office, banks, duty-free stores, mobile charger stations, and a medical clinic.
T-H
One of the most remarkable buildings in the world. The Hajj Terminal was designed specifically for Muslim pilgrims and can accommodate 80,000 travelers at any given time. It was designed by architect Fazlur RAHMAN Khan of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and won the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1983.
The terminal’s iconic tent-like roof — composed of 210 Teflon-coated fiberglass structures — provides shade while allowing natural ventilation, making it one of the world’s first large-scale environmentally passive buildings. It contains a souk, mosque, medical facilities, bank, post office, and a full pilgrim support infrastructure. In 2023, it hosted the inaugural Islamic Arts Biennale, attracting over 500,000 visitors.
🏛️ The Hajj Terminal: An Architectural Icon
The Hajj Terminal is not merely a transit facility — it is a pilgrimage infrastructure landmark. Conceived in the 1970s to handle the unprecedented scale of modern Hajj travel, it solved a unique design problem: how to shelter millions of people in extreme heat without air conditioning across a vast open-air complex.
The solution was a series of tent-like Teflon-fiberglass canopies, each one a modular unit, arranged in two blocks of five with a landscaped mall between them. The roof reflects sunlight and allows hot air to escape upward — a passive cooling system that continues to function four decades later.
Getting from JED to Makkah
From the airport, Makkah is approximately 80–100 km depending on your route. Multiple transport options are available, ranging from the ultra-fast Haramain train to private taxis and organized pilgrim buses.
✅ Arrival Checklist for Pilgrims
Makkah Is Getting Its Own International Airport
For the first time in history, the holy city of Makkah will have its own dedicated international airport. Saudi Arabia’s Royal Commission for Makkah City and the Holy Sites (RCMC) confirmed in April 2026 that strategic and investment frameworks for the new airport have been officially approved.
The announcement was made by Saleh Al-Rasheed, CEO of the RCMC, in an interview with Harvard Business Review Arabia. The airport will be developed in partnership with the private sector and built to international standards. It is planned to be located approximately 50 km from Makkah, positioned to allow direct arrivals into the holy city without routing pilgrims through Jeddah.
For decades, direct air access to Makkah was considered extremely difficult due to the city’s mountainous geography. Recent advances in aviation infrastructure planning and the success of Haramain Rail have now made the project viable. The new airport is expected to dramatically reduce travel times, relieve pressure on King AbdulAZIZ Airport in Jeddah, and reduce highway congestion on the Makkah–Jeddah road during peak pilgrim seasons.
The Makkah airport project will complement — not replace — King AbdulAZIZ International Airport, which will continue to serve Jeddah’s commercial and tourism traffic. Together, the two airports will form a dual-gateway system for the western Saudi corridor, significantly increasing overall capacity ahead of Saudi Vision 2030’s target of hosting 30 million Umrah visitors per year.
