Prince Mohammad Bin Abdulaziz Airport
| Prince Mohammad Bin Abdulaziz International Airport | |||
|---|---|---|---|
IATA: MED – ICAO: OEMA
 MED
|
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| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Public | ||
| Operator | General Authority of Civil Aviation | ||
| Location | Medina | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 2,151 ft / 656 m | ||
| Coordinates | 24°33′12″N 039°42′18″E / 24.55333°N 39.705°ECoordinates: 24°33′12″N 039°42′18″E / 24.55333°N 39.705°E | ||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| ft | m | ||
| 17/35 | 10,800 | 3,290 | Asphalt |
| 18/36 | 9,980 | 3,040 | Asphalt |
| Statistics (2004) | |||
| Passengers | 1,592,000 | ||
Prince Mohammad Bin Abdulaziz International Airport or Prince Mohammad Airport (alternatively "Mohammed") (IATA: MED, ICAO: OEMA) is a regional airport in the western Saudi city of Medina. Opened in 1974, it handles mostly domestic flights, although it has limited scheduled international services to regional destinations such as Cairo, Doha, Dubai, Istanbul and Kuwait. and It also handles charter international flights during the Hajj season. It was named after Muhammad bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud. Only Muslims are allowed to enter the city. This is a strictly enforced law. The Pilgrims for Hajj and Umrah can enter Saudi Arabia through this airport or through Jeddah airport only.
It is the fourth busiest airport in Saudi Arabia, handling 1,592,000 passengers in 2004, including 378,715 Hajj charter passengers. It handles on average 20-25 flights a day, although this number triples during the Hajj season and school holidays.
As with other regional airports in Saudi Arabia, it is modestly equipped, with a simple single-storey terminal and a small parking apron. It has two runways: a main runway and an angled runway for cross-wind operations. There are plans to upgrade the airport to full international specification to handle the expected increase in passenger traffic to 3 million passengers a year.
Contents |
[edit] Airlines and destinations
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| Air Arabia | Sharjah |
| EgyptAir | Alexandria-El Nohza, Cairo |
| Emirates | Dubai |
| Felix Airways | Sana'a [1] |
| Gulf Air | Bahrain |
| Kuwait Airways | Kuwait |
| Middle East Airlines | Seasonal: Beirut |
| Nas Air | Riyadh, Kuwait, Sharjah |
| Pakistan International Airlines | Karachi, Multan [2] |
| Qatar Airways | Doha |
| Royal Falcon | Amman-Marka |
| Royal Jordanian | Amman-Queen Alia |
| Saudi Arabian Airlines | Abha, Amman-Queen Alia, Arar, Cairo, Damascus, Dammam, Dhaka, Gassim, Gurayat, Hail, Islamabad, Istanbul-Atatürk, Jakarta-Soekarno-Hatta, Jazan, Jeddah, Jouf, Karachi, Kuala Lumpur, Lahore, Peshawar, Qaisumah, Riyadh, Sharjah, Tabuk, Taif, Wedjh |
| Turkish Airlines | Istanbul-Atatürk |
[edit] Incidents
On 16 March 2001, the airport was the scene of a bloody end to the hijacking of a Russian based Vnukovo Airlines Tupolev 154 Jet bound from Istanbul to Moscow carrying 162 passengers. The hijackers apparently Chechen Separatists, had landed at the airport and had demanded additional amount of fuel to fly to Afghanistan. After 18 hours of no negotiations, Saudi Security forces stormed the plane bringing an end to the hijack. There were three fatalities including a hijacker, a Turkish passenger and a Russian Air stewardess.[3]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "Felix Airways Launches on Thursday 03.09.2009 its new route to Saudi Arabia". Felix Airways. http://www.felixairways.com/madinah.php. Retrieved 2009-09-11.
- ^ PK to MED
- ^ "Bloody end to Chechen HIjack". BBC News. 2001-03-16. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1223972.stm. Retrieved 2009-01-29.
[edit] External links
- General Authority of Civil Aviation
- Airport information for OEMA at World Aero Data. Data current as of October 2006.
