KUWAIT: The Civil Aviation Directorate General said that a new airport with a capacity of up to four million passengers per year will be built in Kuwait, said well informed sources. The airport will be built with readymade buildings which will be completed in one and a half years, says Arabic daily Al-Qabas quoting the sources.

It will be considered a backup for the current terminal which will help accommodate the increased traffic expected to increase in the coming years until the new terminal is completed.

The source added that the Central Tenders Committee approved the request to introduce the tender for designing, construction, furnishing, operational maintenance and maintenance of the back-up passenger terminal at the Kuwait International Airport.

He said the building of the new terminal will solve in part the congestion at the current airport terminal for many years. He said the back-up building is expected to accommodate four million passengers and include all facilities for departures and arrivals. It will have a car parking facility with a capacity of 1,700 vehicles. He said some airlines will be moved to this back-up airport according to certain standards.

He said the number of passengers at the airport reached more than nine million last year exceeding the capacity of the current building. So it is necessary to build the backup building to relieve the pressure and maintain the services level, the sources added.