“A Saudi official has confirmed that Mecca, Islam’s holiest city, will soon have an airport.”

“Mecca currently doesn’t have its own functional international airport.”

“King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah is roughly 100km from the holy city.”

“Mecca’s mountainous terrain presents challenges for air travel, including turbulence, tricky approaches and potential visibility and weather issues.”

“Feasibility studies and initial designs have been completed and submitted to the relevant authorities to complete the necessary procedures in preparation for launching it in its next phases.”

“Mecca's bus fleet comprises 400 vehicles running 12 routes covering 580 kilometres. The service, which first launched in 2022, has carried more than 185 million passengers across the holy city.”

“Last year, Saudi Arabia hosted more than 1.5 million foreign pilgrims for Hajj, who arrived from outside of the country through various entry points, according to data from the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT). In total there were more than 1.6 million pilgrims.”