HIA expansion ‘very advanced already’, says al-Baker

Hamad International Airport (HIA) “is very advanced already in the expansion to cater to the huge rush we will have during 2022” (FIFA World Cup 2022), Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive HE Akbar al-Baker said Tuesday.
Addressing a webinar hosted as part of the ‘Qatar – US Business Culture Series’, al-Baker said, “The expansion is also on the western side of the runway, which will hugely increase additional aircraft parking spaces. And in order to cater to a huge influx of chartered flights in an already very busy scheduled airline airport, we have started work to renovate and reactivate the old airport, which is just 5km to the west of Hamad International.
“So, totally we will have a huge capacity increase to efficiently and smoothly connect all the passengers who will be coming to watch the FIFA games in 2022.”
In an interview with Qatar TV in February, al-Baker said expansion at HIA was in full force and would ensure a capacity to handle 58mn passengers by 2022.
“Soon after 2022, after the FIFA World Cup, there will be another final phase of the expansion, to increase the capacity to just under 70mn passengers,” al-Baker told Qatar TV.
HIA, the airline’s home and hub, was recently ranked “Third Best Airport in the World”, among 550 airports worldwide, by the Skytrax World Airport Awards 2020.
Rising from fourth position in 2019 to third in 2020, HIA has been steadily rising in the ‘World's Best Airports’ rankings since the start of its operations in 2014. In addition, HIA was voted the ‘Best Airport in the Middle East’ for the sixth year in a row and ‘Best Staff Service in the Middle East’ for the fifth year in a row.
HIA is the first and only airport in the Middle East and Asia to be awarded a Skytrax 5-Star Covid-19 Airport Safety Rating.