HVAC & Climate Systems installations at King Khalid International Airport (RUH)

Terminal HVAC in a Gulf climate is an extreme-duty engineering problem: cooling 200,000 m² of glass-fronted space to 22 °C against 48 °C outdoor air and 85% apron humidity, while moving millions of m³ of filtered air through security and hold rooms. The category includes centrifugal and magnetic-bearing chillers, district cooling interfaces, AHUs, FCUs, displacement ventilation, building-management systems, and the Pre-Conditioned Air (PCA) units that bridge-cool parked aircraft. Energy performance is the biggest single lever on a Gulf airport's OpEx and carbon footprint.

A sprawling 1980s-era masterplan set in desert pink sandstone, RUH was designed by HOK when Riyadh was still a secondary capital. Four decades later, the city has outgrown it. Terminals 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 now share the load as traffic hit 37.2 million in 2024, and new carrier Riyadh Air prepares to launch before the airport itself is eclipsed by King Salman International just across town.