Thursday, December 30, 2021

SAUDI ARABIA. Tibah Airports, the TAV Airports-Al Rajhi joint venture that manages Madinah Prince Mohammed Bin Abdul Aziz International, has extended its concession to take into account the impact of COVID-19.

TAV-Al Rajhi JV took over operations at Madinah Airport in June 2012. The concession period, which runs through 2037, will be extended with this new agreement, struck following a force majeure application to Saudi civil aviation authority GACA.

The force majeure period is defined as falling between February 2020 and the end of the calendar year during which Madinah Airport reaches 8.1 million passengers (just under the 8.4 million figure achieved in 2019). The term will be added to the operating period. Rent payments from February 2020 onwards will also be deferred until traffic has recovered to pre-pandemic levels.

Additionally, as part of the agreement, Tibah’s financial debt excluding an equity bridge loan has been refinanced with a loan that has a lower interest rate and only matures in 2036.

TAV Airports President & CEO Sani Şener said: “We have been successfully operating Madinah Airport, the gateway to the Holy Land, together with our partner Al-Rajhi, for the last nine years. Aviation is one of the most impacted sectors by the pandemic. We have taken all the necessary precautions to protect our employees and passengers and kept our airports open.

“Simultaneously, in the countries where we have operations, we are discussing with the civil aviation authorities to remedy our pandemic-related losses due to force majeure clauses in our agreements. We are happy to reach an agreement to extend our concession in Madinah, and looking forward to welcome pilgrims who had to postpone their visits to the Holy Land. I want to thank all the parties who made this agreement possible.”

Madinah Airport welcomed 8.4 million passengers in 2019, mainly Umrah and Hajj visitors. Following the introduction of travel restrictions to Saudi Arabia, passenger traffic dropped to 2.3 million in 2020. During the first 11 months of this year, Madinah Airport served 1.5 million passengers.

Source: https://www.moodiedavittreport.com/tav-led-consortium-extends-contract-to-manage-madinah-airport/