By Fakhriya M. Suleiman
Published on •Updated
A Saudi official has confirmed that Mecca, Islam’s holiest city, will soon have an airport.
In an interview with Harvard Business Review Arabia, Saleh Al-Rasheed, CEO of the Royal Commission for Makkah City and the Holy Sites (RCMC), said that the “strategic, economic and investment directions for Mecca Airport have been approved”.
He added that as part of this project, the Royal Commission, a government entity tasked with the development, planning and services in Mecca and surrounding holy sites, will work with the private sector to develop a suitable model for the project’s investment.
Mecca currently doesn’t have its own functional international airport. However, in 2024 the Gulf Kingdom experimented with autonomous electric aerial vehicles to explore the potential for facilitating emergency travel, as well as delivering medical equipment, Arab News reported.
Instead, most international visitors opt to fly to King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, which is roughly 100km from the holy city, and travel the rest of the way to Mecca by land.
Mecca’s mountainous terrain presents challenges for air travel, including turbulence, tricky approaches and potential visibility and weather issues.
Al-Rasheed also discussed plans for the “Mecca Metro” project. He said: “The feasibility studies and initial designs have been completed and submitted to the relevant authorities to complete the necessary procedures in preparation for launching it in its next phases.”
Mecca’s bus fleet comprises 400 vehicles running 12 routes covering 580 kilometres. The service, which first launched in 2022, has carried more than 185 million passengers across the holy city.
Last year, Saudi Arabia hosted more than 1.5 million foreign pilgrims for Hajj, who arrived from outside of the country through various entry points, according to data from the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT). In total there were more than 1.6 million pilgrims.
In 2024, GASTAT’s Hajj statistics found that pilgrims from Europe, America, Australia and other countries made up 3.2% of travellers.
The annual religious pilgrimage is a once in a lifetime requirement for Muslims who are financially and physically able. Hajj lasts between five to six days, depending on the sight of the crescent moon, during the Islamic calendar month of Dhul Hijjah.
Umrah, on the other hand, can be performed on a voluntary basis anytime all year round.
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