The following terms, as used in these Regulations, shall have the assigned meanings unless the context indicates otherwise:

• ‘Kingdom’ means the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

• ‘Authority’ means the General Authority of Civil Aviation.

• ‘Regulations’ means the Airport Economic Regulations.

• ‘Airport’ means area of land or water; including any buildings, installations and equipment designated, wholly or partly, for the arrival, movement or departure of aircraft.

• ‘Airport User Committee’ means a committee of representatives of air carriers or organizations representing air carriers which utilize airport facilities in accordance with these Regulations.

• ‘Ground Handling Service Provider’, ‘Air Cargo Service Provider’ or ‘Airport Service Provider’ means an entity providing third parties with one or more categories of ground handling or air cargo services, as per the economic license issued by the Authority.

• ‘Air Carrier’ means an entity offering or operating airlines for passenger, mail and/or cargo carriage.

• 'National Air Carrier' means an air carrier established in the Kingdom that holds a national air carrier economic license, issued by the Authority, authorizing to carry by air, domestically or internationally, passengers, mail and/ or cargo.

• ‘General Aviation’ means air transport operations for a purpose other than commercial air transport or aerial works.

• ‘Air Service’ or ‘Commercial Air Service’ refers to an air transport flight or series of flights performed by civil aircraft for remuneration. Services may be either scheduled or charter.

• 'Air Works' refers to all aerial activities for remuneration or for hire other than the transport of passengers, mail and/or cargo, such as firefighting, agricultural spraying, aerial photography, or aerial advertising.

• ‘Aircraft’ means any equipment that can derive support in the atmosphere from the reactions of the air, other than the reactions of the air against the earth’s surface. Includes both manned and unmanned aircraft.

• ‘Airport Cluster shall mean two or more airports grouped together and serving the same city or conurbation.

• 'Airport User' means any air carrier that operates at, utilizes the facilities of, or engages in activities in connection with the airport.

• ‘First Line Service Provider’ means an entity that provides essential or primary services directly related to airport operations. These services may include activities such as ground handling or air cargo services that are integral to the daily functions of the airport.

• ‘Airside’ means the part of the airport grounds, and the part of the airport buildings, to which the non-travelling public does not have free access.

17. 'Baggage' means any personal belongings of passengers or crew that are carried on the aircraft under an agreement with the operator, including both checked and unchecked items.

18. ‘Assessment Period’ means a period of time, specified by the Authority, during which the Multi-Year Charges Approval and Annual Charges Approval as determined by the Authority shall subsist.

19. 'Category A Airport' means an airport whose annual traffic is not less than 10 million passenger movements or 125,000 tons of freight;

20. 'Category B Airport' means an airport whose annual traffic is at or greater than 3 million passenger movements but less than 10 million passenger movements or at or greater than 25,000 tons of freight but less than 125,000 tons of freight;

21. 'Category C Airport' means an airport whose annual traffic is less than 3 million passenger movements or 25,000 tons of freight;

22. 'Designated Airports' means such airports designated by the Authority based on relevant factors, to be regulated in line with the provisions specified in these Regulations. This designation may include Class A airports.

23. ‘Non-Designated Airport’ means those airports as nominated by the Authority to be regulated in line with the provisions specified in these Regulations.

24. ‘Entity’ means a firm, partnership, corporation, company, association, joint-stock association, or governmental entity. The term includes a trustee, receiver, assignee, or similar representative of any of them.

25. ‘Flight’ means: 

• with regard to passengers and unchecked baggage, the period of transport of the passengers by aircraft including their boarding and disembarkation,

• with regard to cargo and checked baggage, the period of transport of baggage and cargo from the moment the baggage or cargo is handed to the air carrier until the moment of delivery to the entitled recipient,

• with regard to third parties, the use of an aircraft from the moment when power is applied to its engines for the purpose of taxiing or actual take-off until the moment when it is on the surface and its engines have come to a complete stop; additionally, it shall mean the moving of an aircraft by towing and push-back vehicles or by powers which are typical for the drive and the lift of aircraft, particularly air streams.

  26. ‘Flight Stage’ means the operation of an aircraft from take-off to its next landing.

  27. 'Force Majeure' means any event beyond the reasonable control of either party to a contractual agreement, which could not have been reasonably foreseen at the date of the agreement being signed.

  28. 'Airport Operator' means an entity which administers and manages the airport infrastructure, and coordinates and controls activities of the different operators present in the airport or airport cluster concerned. It may also cover, as the case may be:

  a. where an airport or airport cluster is managed and operated not by a single body but by several separate bodies, each of those bodies shall be considered part of the airport operator for the purposes of these Regulations;

  b. Where only a single managing body is set up for several airports or airport clusters, each of those airports or airport clusters shall be considered separately for the purposes of these Regulations.

  29. On Flight Origin/Destination’ means traffic on a given flight with the same flight number subdivided by airport pairs in accordance with point of embarkation and point of disembarkation on that flight (When the airport of landing for passengers, mail and/or freight is not known, the point of departure of the aircraft is considered as the origin of the flight; similarly, if the airport to which the aircraft is heading to is unknown, the landing point is considered as the destination of the flight).

  30. ‘Passenger’ means any person who is on a flight with the consent of the air carrier or the aircraft operator, excluding on-duty members of both the flight crew and the cabin crew.

  31.  ‘Single-Till Methodology’ means the approach where all revenue streams generated by airport operations, including aeronautical and non-aeronautical sources, are taken into account when determining the level of airport charges.

  32. ‘Dual-Till Methodology’ means the approach where all revenues generated by airport operations, are divided into two distinct categories: revenues generated from aeronautical services, and non-aeronautical services. Only the first category is considered when determining the charges for aeronautical services at the airport.

  33. ‘Hybrid-Till Methodology’ means the approach where both aeronautical and non-aeronautical revenues are partially combined for the purpose of determining aeronautical charges. The exact proportions and elements that are combined vary by application.

  34. 'Slot' shall mean the scheduled time of arrival or departure available or allocated to an aircraft movement on a specific date at an airport coordinated under the terms of this Regulation.

  35. 'Scheduling Season' shall mean either the summer or winter season as used in the schedules of air carriers.

  36. ‘State Aircraft’ means an aircraft owned by the Kingdom and designated for serving non-commercial public interest purposes, such as Royal, military, and medical evacuation aircraft.
  37. ‘Charges’ means such charges levied or collected by the airport operator, as approved by the Authority, in return for the provision of services.

  38. ‘Charges Year’ means each year in an Assessment Period.

  39. ‘Third Country’ means a State other than a Saudi Arabia.
  40. ‘Total Aircraft Movements’ means all take-offs and landings by non-military aircraft. Includes aerial work flights, i.e., specialized commercial aviation operations which are performed by aircraft chiefly engaged in agriculture, construction, photography and surveying, as well as pilot training, business/executive flying and all other non-commercial flights

  41. ‘Committee for the Consideration of Violations of Civil Aviation Law Provisions' or ‘Committee’ refers the committee who’s role is to investigate any acts or omissions in contravention to the Civil Aviation Law, and which is responsible for deciding the appropriate penalties for any such acts or omissions.

The Authority categorizes the airports in Saudi Arabia, according to the following classification:

• Designated airports;

• Non-designated airports.

The Authority shall consider designating an airport based on factors such as:

• Passenger volume;

• Freight volume;

• Location.

• The Authority shall publish the categorization of all airports in Saudi Arabia on its official website.

• The Authority shall notify all concerned Airport Operators of the new categorization and the date upon which it shall be implemented and enforced.

• The fact that an airport's designation changes from one category to another does not affect any rights or liabilities accruing by virtue of these Regulations before the airport's change in designation.

• Assets such as the land upon which all the airports in Saudi Arabia are situated shall be retained as the property of the government, or, as the case may be, that of one or multiple government owned entities.

• Without prejudice to the Private Sector Participation (PSP) law and its implementation regulation, management of such assets may be granted to private entities through leasing contracts, concession, Public-Private Partnership (PPP) agreement or other similar arrangements.

• The approval of the Authority must be obtained before concluding any legal act or agreement related to such assets, and all necessary information related to it must be submitted to the Authority before commencing its implementation.

• Parties involved in a transaction referred to in Paragraph 1 above must submit a detailed proposal to the Authority, outlining:

  • The nature of the transaction;

  • The parties involved; and

  • The terms and conditions of the agreement.

• The Authority will review and evaluate the proposal, considering factors such as but not limited to:

  • Compliance with the Civil Aviation Law and its implementing regulations;

  • Alignment with national interest.

• The Authority may consult with other relevant government agencies and regulatory bodies, and the airport user committee, to obtain their inputs and recommendations on the proposal.

• Based on its evaluation, the Authority may either:

  • Approve outright;

  • Approve with certain conditions that must be met by the parties involved; or

  • Reject the proposal.