Queen Alia International Airport
Queen Alia International Airport is Jordan's main and largest airport and is located in Zizya south of the capital city, Amman. It is named after Queen Alia, who died in a helicopter crash in 1977. The airport is home to the country's national flag carrier, Royal Jordanian Airlines and serves as a major hub for Jordan Aviation.
A state-of-the-art new terminal was inaugurated in March 2013 to replace the airport's older two passenger terminals and one cargo terminal. The three original terminals were made obsolete once the new terminal officially began operations. In 2014, the new airport received the "Best Improvement by Region: Middle East" and "Best Airport by Region: Middle East" awards by the Airport Council International. The awards are given to the airports which achieved the highest customer satisfaction in the ASQ Survey.
History
Queen Alia International Airport was built in 1983 in response to the growing airport traffic needs that Amman Civil Airport could not accommodate. At the time, passenger traffic was increasing above the international average, recording 25–30% growth per annum and placing considerable pressure on airport facilities despite continuous expansion and development. In 1981, the number of arriving, departing and transit passengers exceeded 2.3 million, while cargo traffic reached 62,000 tonnes and aircraft traffic topped 27,000 movements.The Jordanian Ministry of Transport undertook to build a new international airport with sufficient capacity to cope with demand in the foreseeable future. QAIA was built at an estimated total cost of JOD 84 million. Passenger facilities were designed to serve 3.5 million passengers per annum.
QAIA has since grown to become the kingdom's primary international gateway and a stop-over for international airlines in the Middle East. By 2012, QAIA was serving on average more than 6 million passengers and 40 airlines from around the world.
In 2007 the Government of Jordan selected Airport International Group through an open tender to operate, rehabilitate and manage QAIA under a 25-year concession agreement. In response to the continual surge in passenger traffic at the time, AIG was also placed in charge of constructing a new terminal, one which not only would expand the airport's then insufficient annual capacity of 3.5 million passengers, but that would also introduce a "unique travel experience" to help advance QAIA's position as a niche transit hub in the region.
Accordingly, AIG invested an estimated US$750 million in the construction of the new terminal.
The new terminal is also equipped to accommodate rising annual passenger traffic, taking the original airport capacity from 3.5 million passengers per year to 7.5 million.
Inaugurated on 14 March 2013, by King Abdullah II, the new airport was officially launched following an overnight operational transfer. The last flight departed from the old terminal at 10:05 pm on 20 March 2013, upon which all operations were shifted to the new terminal, where its first flight departed at 2:30 am on 21 March 2013.
On 20 January 2014, AIG launched the second phase of QAIA's expansion, valued at a total cost of over US$100 million. Completed in 2016, the second expansion phase raised QAIA's annual passenger traffic capacity to up to 12 million and was priced at $1 billion, subsequently supporting Jordan's national tourism strategy goals to serve as a regional transit hub for leisure and business travel. The aims to boost its capacity to 16 million passengers annually by the end of the concession time frame in 2032. Following the airport expansion, Emirates operated a one-off Airbus A380 service to Amman, celebrating 30 years of Emirates' operation to Jordan. The super jumbo operated EK901/EK902 on September 25, 2016, and it was the first ever A380 service to the Levant.
On 14 March 2020, it was announced by The Jordan Department of Health that "In addition to what was previously announced regarding the suspension of flights to and from some countries as of Monday, March 16, 2020, all flights to and from the Kingdom will be suspended from Tuesday, March 17, 2020, until further notice, excluding commercial freight traffic"
The Airport has been closed to passenger traffic since 17 March 2020 in response to the 2019-20 Coronavirus Pandemic. However, several Royal Jordanian flights were commissioned to return Jordanian citizens, especially students, back to Jordan during the pandemic if they desired.
Terminal
QAIA's new design was created by architects Foster + Partners. Its main characteristic is the roof that was inspired by Bedouin tents and is composed of 127 concrete domes, each weighing up to 600 metric tonnes.The airport has three lounges, one operated by Royal Jordanian for business and first class passengers, and one operated by Airport Hotel next to the North Concourse, and the last exclusively run by telecom operator Zain Jordan for its VIP customers. Retail space was expanded by 25% at the new terminal, covering more than. The terminal houses several international food and beverage venues that include restaurants, supermarkets and a nuts roastery; a larger Duty Free area; a children's play area; additional shopping outlets; and internet connectivity.
Airport management
Airport International Group is a Jordanian company formed to rehabilitate, expand and operate Queen Alia International Airport under a 25-year Build-Operate-Transfer concession agreement. The concession was awarded to AIG in 2007 by the Government of Jordan after an open international tender that was overseen by the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank acting as an advisor to the Government. AIG's shareholders are French, Persian Gulf, and Palestinian partners. As of 2018, 51% of the shares are owned by Aéroports de Paris. The other shareholders are Meridiam Eastern Europe Investments, Mena Airport Holding Ltd. and the EDGO Group.Through the BOT public-private partnership framework, the Government retains ownership of the airport and receives 54.47% of the airport's gross revenues for the first six years, and 54.64% of the gross revenues for the remaining 19 years of the agreement's 25-year term.
As part of its public-private partnership with the Government of Jordan, AIG closely collaborates with the Government on a day-to-day basis on all issues related to the airport. A dedicated project management unit within the Jordanian Ministry of Transport oversees the project for the Government. The Ministry of Transport receives full annual financial statements as well as quarterly financial and operational reports.
Airlines and destinations
Passenger
Cargo
Queen Alia Airport has various amounts of cargo traffic, both unscheduled and scheduled. Various airlines including Royal Jordanian Cargo, operate unscheduled freighter flights in and out of Queen Alia Airport to various parts of the world. As of 2015, Queen Alia became the hub for some of the US military contract flights supplying machinery and equipment to the region.Statistics
| Year | Total passengers | Growth |
| 2002 | 2,334,779 | |
| 2003 | 2,358,475 | 1% |
| 2004 | 2,988,174 | 21% |
| 2005 | 3,301,510 | 9% |
| 2006 | 3,506,070 | 6% |
| 2007 | 3,861,126 | 9% |
| 2008 | 4,477,811 | 14% |
| 2009 | 4,770,769 | 6% |
| 2010 | 5,422,301 | 12% |
| 2011 | 5,467,726 | 1% |
| 2012 | 6,250,048 | 13% |
| 2013 | 6,502,000 | 4% |
| 2014 | 7,089,008 | 9% |
| 2015 | 7,095,685 | 0% |
| 2016 | 7,410,274 | 4.4% |
| 2017 | 7,914,704 | 6.8% |
| 2018 | 8,425,026 | 6.5% |
| 2019 | 8,924,080 | 5.9% |
| Year | Total Aircraft movements |
| 2007 | 44,672 |
| 2008 | 51,314 |
| 2009 | 57,726 |
| 2010 | 62,863 |
| 2011 | 63,426 |
| 2012 | 67,190 |
| 2014 | 73,125 |
| 2015 | 73,584 |
| 2016 | 73,784 |
| 2017 | 74,044 |
Awards
The global Airport Service Quality Survey for Q1 2014 ranked QAIA at first place in 18 different service and facility categories from among 10 airports across the Middle East. QAIA also came in at 13th place from amongst 81 airports worldwide within the group of airports serving 5-15 million passengers and recorded an Overall Satisfaction Score of 4.42 out of a possible 5.0, an improvement compared to its 4.23 score in Q4 2013. With regards to luggage delivery speed, QAIA earned a 4.13 score, up from 3.99 during the previous quarter.QAIA also received two 2013 Airport Service Quality Awards in February 2014, ranking at 1st place in the category of "Best Improvement by Region: Middle East" and 5th in the category of "Best Airport by Region: Middle East". The ASQ Awards results are based on the ASQ Survey, an international airport passenger satisfaction benchmark program. In the 2014 version of the wards, QAIA again received the "Best Improvement In the Middle east region" award and leaped forward to become the best airport in the middle east, ahead of Abu Dhabi International Airport, Ben Gurion International Airport, Hamad International Airport and Dubai International Airport.
In March 2013, QAIA was named one of the world's top 40 Public–private partnership PPP projects, receiving Gold recognition as "Best Emerging Market Infrastructure Project for Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa" in Emerging Partnerships. The winning PPPs, selected from among projects nominated by governments, industry, NGOs, academia and other organisations following a global call for submissions, demonstrated best practices for governments working with the private sector to provide a wide range of public services and to spur economic development in their countries.
In June 2013, QAIA became the second airport in the Middle East to achieve the "Mapping" level of the Airport Carbon Accreditation program run by Airports Council International Europe. The 'Mapping' level recognizes the airport's commitment to determining its carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emission sources at its operational boundary, as well as to engaging a third party to verify the airport's annual carbon footprint.
Access
The airport is connected to Amman by Sariyah shuttle buses that ply back and forth around the clock between Amman and the airport every 30 minutes.An airport taxi service is also available around the clock. A Rent-a-Car service is also available at the airport.
QAIA's parking facilities are divided into three key areas:
- Departure curbside area: Reserved for passenger drop-offs and pick-ups, drivers entering the departure curbside must purchase a ticket to enter. Drivers receive a 10-minute free-of-charge grace period.
- Short-term parking lot: Cars parked in this area are subject to an hourly parking fee.
- Long-term parking lot: Designed for passengers who wish to leave their vehicles at the airport while travelling, the long-term lot charges drivers daily parking fees.