Bahrain awards airport revamp mass transit contract to Finnish company

Kone is signed up to provide lifts, escalators and walkways for a new terminal building at Bahrain International Airport as part of a $1.1bn upgrade.

A rendering of the Bahrain International Airport expansion. Courtesy Kone Corporation

As part of the ongoing upgrade of its international airport, Bahrain has awarded the Finnish firm Kone the contract to supply 145 lifts and escalators for a new passenger terminal building.

The order is part of an extensive modernisation project at Bahrain International Airport (BIA), which is designed to handle 14 million passengers annually, up from the current nine million. The airport currently hosts more than 40 airlines and is home to the kingdom’s national carrier, Gulf Air. Kone will supply 85 elevators, 40 escalators, and 20 autowalks.

“The economic development in Bahrain has remained robust with its tourism industry expected to grow steadily to [be worth] almost US$1 billion by 2020,” said Pierre Liautaud, the executive vice president for Kone South Europe, Middle East and Africa.

The $1.1bn BIA modernisation programme is expected to be complete by the second quarter of 2020. The main developer is the Bahrain ministry of transportation and telecommunications (MTT).

Last year, a joint venture between the Dubai-listed Arabtec and Turkey’s TAV Construction won a major contact to build the passenger terminal at BIA.

The scope of the contract includes the construction of the terminal, a services building and aircraft bay, according to the state-owned Bahrain News Agency. The value of the contract was not specified.

The announcement was made by the MTT, in conjunction with the Bahrain Airport Company (BAC), during the Bahrain International Air Show 2016.

Other agreements included: an $11.7 million contract with China’s CIMC for the passenger air bridges; a $31m contract for the baggage handling system with Vanderlande from the Netherlands; and a $29.7m contract with the US-based L3 Communications for security screening equipment.

The airport modernisation is the largest infrastructure project undertaken by Bahrain International Airport in more than 30 years, said Mohamed Albinfalah, the chief executive of BAC.

“In order to keep up with the rapid pace of progress in the aviation industry, MTT in cooperation with BAC has put in place this ambitious programme, which will be implemented in phases,” he said.

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