Red Sea Airport to Fully Open by End of 2025 With Six-Minute Exits

Red Sea International Airport in Saudi Arabia is set to open by the end of 2025, with its Main Terminal nearing operational capacity and a system designed to get travellers off the plane and out of the airport in just six minutes. The terminal’s pod-based layout, which merges immigration, security, and boarding gates into single streamlined zones, is key to the airport’s fast turnaround times.

Partially operational since April 2024, the airport began receiving international flights from Dubai while finalising work on its central terminal building. Phase one of the terminal will open by mid-2025, with all five pods expected to be in use by Q4. Designed to handle up to one million visitors annually, RSI is entirely off the grid and powered by solar energy.

A remote check-in system allows passengers to confirm flights and check bags directly from their resorts, with luggage transferred behind the scenes. Guests heading to island properties can board hybrid seaplanes via the dedicated Fly Red Sea fleet, and plans are already under way to transition to eVTOLs for airport-to-resort transfers.

The airport is part of the Red Sea Global tourism project, which targets one million annual visitors by 2030. Saudia, flynas, and flydubai are among the carriers currently operating, with routes to European hubs like London and Frankfurt expected to follow.