New Record High Retail Sales First Half at KKIA; June Strongest Month to Date for International Passengers

 Riyadh Airports Company (RAC), operator of King Khalid International Airport (KKIA), is pleased to announce that total passenger driven sales, including retail, F&B and services, delivered 66% first half growth over pre-pandemic 2019 and 24% increase on same period in 2022.

Duty free led this sales growth with the first half 93% above 2019 and 39% over 2022. June set a new record high delivering 33% ahead of the previous record achieved in July 2022. Note: 2022 duty free sales delivered 51% growth above 2019 with a steady flow of new records through that year.

In addition to sales records, June international passenger achievement was a new all-time high, beating the previous best, set in August 2022. The highest ever passenger day at KKIA was recorded on 25th June with 106k total passengers travelling through the airport.

First half international passengers were 22% over 2019 and 36% ahead of 2022. Note: total international passengers had recovered to pre-pandemic numbers in full by 2022 year-end. Thirty three new services to 21 countries were launched in the first half, including 11 new destinations. Total passengers increased 6% above 2019 and 19% ahead of the same period in 2022.

KKIA is also the first airport in the Middle East region to receive the Welcome China certification, awarded in July, issued by the Chinese Tourism Academy, part of Chinese Ministry Culture and Tourism. RAC is pleased to confirm the first direct flight to Beijing will commence in August, in addition to Guangzhou already served.

Abdulaziz Al Asaker, Chief Commercial Officer, RAC added “We are delighted with these strong new records. June benefitted from the aligning of the school holiday and Eid Al-Adha holidays, but the underlying growth remains exceptional, both commercially and with passenger growth driven by route development and strong demand.

We are also proud to be the first and only airport in the Middle East to receive the Welcome China certification, which will support further commercial growth from increased Chinese travellers using the airport. We look forward to continued progress in the second half of the year”.