King Khalid International Airport
King Khalid International Airport
King Khalid International Airport (Arabic: ???? ????? ???? ??????, romanized: Ma??r al-Malik Kh?lid al-Duwaliyy; IATA: RUH, ICAO: OERK) is an international airport located about 35 kilometres (22 mi) north of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This airport consists of four passenger terminals with eight aero-bridges each, a mosque, and parking facilities for 11,600 vehicles. It includes a "Royal Terminal" designated for use by government officials, state guests, and the Saudi royal family. The airport has one of the world's tallest air traffic control towers, and two parallel runways, each 4,260 metres (13,980 ft) in length. It is one of the busiest airports in the Middle East. The airport is owned and operated by the state-owned Riyadh Airports Company. The Royal Mosque was designed with a significant programme of integral art; the stained glass, by British architectural artist Brian Clarke, was a landmark work in the history of the medium, considered to be the largest and technically most advanced stained glass project of the modern period.
Location
24.958°N, 46.699°E · 625 m s. n. m. (2.049 ft)
General data
Runways · 2
Lengths and surfaces from the public OurAirports register; open runways only.
Radio frequencies · 5
Tower
Ground
ATIS (automatic information)
Approach
Area control (center)
Reference frequencies for enthusiasts, from OurAirports (community database, public domain), checked on Oct 16, 2026. They may be outdated or incomplete and do not replace the AIP or current charts: not for navigation. In Europe the published frequency may be an 8.33 kHz channel (e.g., 118.505 for 118.500). In MHz.
History
Initially, the city and region was served by Riyadh International Airport. However, by the 1970s, the pre-existing airport was operating at max capacity and was surrounded by growing neighborhoods that hindered infrastructure expansion. In 1974, the planning and site selection of a replacement airport for the old airport began as part of the Airports Development Program. In 1976, construction of King Khalid International Airport (KKIA) began. It was designed by architectural practice Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum, was opened by HRH King Fahd on 16 November 1983, and opened for scheduled flights on 5 December of the same year. Until then, what is now Riyadh Air Base served commercial flights to and from Riyadh. Increased international and local air transport requirements for Riyadh made the change necessary. In 2021, Riyadh Air Base was shut down and is being redeveloped into King Salman Park.
This airport was an alternative landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle.
On 12 March 2023, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, formally announced the establishment of Riyadh Air. Riyadh Air uses the airport as a hub.
Airlines operating here · 55
Airlines using it as a main base (hub)
Other airlines with direct routes
Airlines with current passenger routes from here, according to Wikipedia route tables cross-checked from both ends (October 2026).
Photo: http://www.amc.af.mil/ · Public domain · view original
Data from OurAirports (public domain) · destinations and airlines from Wikipedia route tables (CC BY-SA, 2026), unless another source is given · profile and photo from Wikidata/Wikimedia Commons (CC0 / CC) · summary and history from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
Cite
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This page was last updated on October 15, 2026
APA
Vuelopedia. (2026, October 15). King Khalid International Airport (RUH). Retrieved October 16, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/RUH
MLA
“King Khalid International Airport (RUH).” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 15 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/airport/RUH. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.
Chicago
Vuelopedia. “King Khalid International Airport (RUH).” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 15, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/RUH.
Harvard
Vuelopedia (2026) King Khalid International Airport (RUH). Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/RUH (Accessed: 16 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{vuelopedia_en_airport_ruh,
author = {{Vuelopedia}},
title = {{King Khalid International Airport (RUH)}},
publisher = {Fundación Poderia},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-10-15},
url = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/RUH},
howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/RUH}},
urldate = {2026-10-16},
note = {Accessed 2026-10-16}
}Wikipedia
{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/RUH |title=King Khalid International Airport (RUH) |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-15 |access-date=2026-10-16 |language=en}}