Airport type Public Elevation AMSL 2,126 ft / 648 m Code ELQ Phone +966 16 380 0101 | Serves Al-Qassim Province 15/33 9,843 Elevation 648 m | |
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Operator General Authority of Civil Aviation Location Mulayda, Buraidah, Saudi Arabia Address Al Qassim، Buraydah Saudi Arabia Owner General Authority of Civil Aviation Similar Turkish Airlines, Qassim University, Bureau of Investigat and Publi, NCB | ||
Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz International Airport (IATA: ELQ, ICAO: OEGS), formerly Qassim International Airport and widely known in the air-travel industry as "Gassim" (from Gassim Province in which it lies), is an airport in the Mulayda district (Arabic: المليداء) west of Buraidah, Saudi Arabia. It primarily serves the region in addition to the neighbor provinces of Hail and Riyadh. Currently, 12 airlines serve the airport with 15 destinations in 6 countries (Saudi Arabia included).
The airport was established in 1964 and is owned and operated by the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA). It was renamed to Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz International Airport after a royal decree by King Abdullah on 5 July 2012 in memory of former Crown Prince Nayef.
Prince Sultan, then crown prince and minister of defense and aviation, launched an expansion project of the royal terminal at the airport in 2003. GACA has spent more than SR300 million on expansion projects since 1964 and the airport continues to undergo further expansion as it consolidates its position as a main aviation hub in Saudi Arabia's central region.
Incidents and accidents
On 28 May 2005, three military helicopters parked in the airport caught fire, also damaging the buildings next to the hangar. There were no human casualties.