Aircraft MRO / Line Maintenance installations at King Abdulaziz International Airport (JED)

MRO covers the full maintenance hierarchy: line (daily, transit, A-check) at the apron, base maintenance (C-check and D-check) in hangars, engine shop visits, component repair and overhaul, painting and cabin reconfiguration. Providers hold multiple national approvals (EASA, FAA, GCAA, GACA, QCAA) and type ratings for Airbus, Boeing, Embraer and increasingly COMAC. Airlines either run captive MRO (Emirates Engineering, Qatar Airways Technical, Etihad Engineering) or outsource to third parties; the Gulf is pivoting to become a net exporter of MRO capacity.

Jeddah is the gateway to Makkah — and few airports carry such spiritual and logistical weight in a single footprint. Its Hajj Terminal, a Skidmore Owings & Merrill marvel of tented fibreglass, has moved pilgrims for four decades while the new Terminal 1 by HOK now handles Saudia's widebody flows. 2024 traffic climbed to 49.1 million as the Kingdom chases a goal of 150 million pilgrims and tourists a year by 2030.