KSA This Week: Jeddah opens Terminal 4, new Nitaqat contract limits, half the region's hotel pipeline
This week from the Kingdom: Jeddah's airport opened Terminal 4 with room for 15 million more passengers a year; Qiwa capped Saudis at five contracts a year for Nitaqat counting; Saudi Arabia now holds half the Middle East's hotel pipeline; Aramco handed SLB a 450-well drilling programme; the renewables pipeline reached 63.8 GW; Saudi Arabia Railways ordered 780 freight cars; Saudi riyal sukuk will join the JPMorgan EM bond index in 2027; and entertainment centres grew 62% in two years.; a new Saudi-Italian agreement opened market access for businesses; and PIF's Makkah and Madinah companies signed investment deals with Brunei. Here is what it means for employers and businesses in Saudi Arabia.
Aviation
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15m extra passengers a year Terminal 4 can handle at Jeddah's KAIA |
King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA) in Jeddah has started phased operations at Terminal 4, the redeveloped former South Terminal. The 97,000 sq. metre building can handle up to 15 million passengers a year. The first airlines moved in on 27 September — Wizz Air, AJet and SalamAir — with Fly Jinnah, Nesma Airlines, Akasa Air, SyrianAir, Pegasus, Azerbaijan Airlines and Tunisair following over the next week. Operator Jeddah Airports Co. (JEDCO) plans to move all foreign airlines now at the North Terminal, plus selected carriers from Terminal 1 and the Hajj and Umrah Terminals.
The airport needs the room. KAIA handled a record 53.4 million passengers in 2025, the highest annual figure for any Saudi airport. The Saudi Aviation Program wants it handling more than 90 million a year by 2030, as part of a national target of 330 million passengers.
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The TASC Take A terminal opening is a hiring event: check-in, ground handling, security, cleaning, retail and F&B all staff up at once, against a fixed go-live date. Airlines and service providers moving in over a few weeks need people ready on day one — the kind of short-notice ramp-up contract staffing is built for. |
Source: Arab News
Labour & Compliance
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5 maximum contracts a Saudi can hold in 52 weeks to count toward Nitaqat |
Saudi Arabia's Qiwa platform has clarified how Saudi employees are counted under the Nitaqat Saudisation programme. To keep counting as one Saudi in a firm's Nitaqat score, an employee must have no more than five employment contracts during the preceding 52 weeks.
There are further limits. A Saudi cannot sign a new contract once they have had more than seven contracts in a 365-day period from their first contract; an eighth cannot be issued until a full year has passed from that first contract. An employee can hold at most two active contracts at once, and must end one before taking another.
To qualify for Nitaqat counting at all, the contract must be valid and registered on Qiwa, the employee must have a total registered salary of at least SR4,000, and cannot be registered as part-time or a student.
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The TASC Take This changes who actually counts toward your Saudisation band. Workers who churn through many short contracts, sit below the SR4,000 registered-salary line, or aren't properly documented on Qiwa may quietly stop counting — dropping your Nitaqat score. Clean, well-documented, correctly-paid contracts are now essential, which is exactly what a compliant staffing and payroll partner keeps in order. |
Source: Saudi Gazette
Tourism & Hospitality
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110,000 hotel rooms under development in Saudi Arabia |
Saudi Arabia has 110,000 hotel rooms under development — about half of the Middle East's hotel pipeline — according to analysis by hospitality consultancy HVS. The projects span Riyadh, Makkah and Madinah as well as Diriyah, NEOM, the Red Sea and Amaala.
The Kingdom's pipeline is part of a $90 billion wave across the GCC and North Africa, expected to add about 200,000 rooms and lift regional supply by 27 percent. Around 88,000 of those rooms are under construction and another 25,000 are in final planning, with more than 55 percent of upcoming hotels due by 2030.
Tourism targets are driving the demand. Having passed 100 million visitors early, Saudi Arabia now aims for 150 million a year by 2030, and the Ministry of Tourism wants more than 550,000 hotel rooms. Tourism spending reached about SR304 billion ($81 billion) in 2025.
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The TASC Take Every new hotel has to be staffed before it opens — front office, housekeeping, F&B, engineering and management — and tourism now has its own Saudisation rules for roles such as hotel manager and receptionist. Operators opening several properties by 2030 will compete for the same trained Saudi talent, so pre-opening hiring and training needs to start early. |
Source: Arab News
Oil & Gas
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450+ wells SLB will deliver for Aramco over a three-year term |
Aramco has awarded SLB four integrated well construction contracts to support oil and gas development across Saudi Arabia. Under the deals, announced on 24 September, SLB will manage well construction from end to end and deliver more than 450 wells over a three-year term, with an option to extend by up to two years.
The integrated model puts drilling, evaluation, fluids, cementing and completions under one contractor, backed by digital workflows and automated drilling. SLB said the awards are a significant expansion of its integrated well construction business in the Kingdom and build on decades of work with Aramco.
Steve Gassen, SLB's executive vice president of Geographies, said the awards reflect Aramco's confidence in the integrated model. No contract value has been disclosed.
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The TASC Take Up to five years of steady drilling means long-running demand for rig crews, drilling and completions engineers, HSE staff and field support. Service contractors and their subcontractors will need to staff up and keep people — while meeting Saudisation targets and Aramco's local-content expectations on every hire. |
Source: SLB (press release)
Energy
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63.8GW renewable capacity in the tracked pipeline, across 53 projects |
Saudi Arabia's tracked renewable energy pipeline now stands at 63.8 gigawatts across 53 projects, according to the Saudi Arabia Renewables Tracker from KAPSARC (the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center). Operating renewable capacity has grown more than 63-fold since 2020, reaching 19.3 GW in 2026.
Solar makes up 81 percent of tracked capacity and wind 19 percent. About 30 percent is installed, 37 percent is under development and 32 percent is tendered. Projects are spread across 11 regions, from Riyadh and Makkah to Al-Jouf, Jazan and the Northern Borders.
Eight projects totalling 7.7 GW are due to be commissioned in 2026, including the 2 GW Haden and Muwayh solar plants in Makkah and the 1.5 GW Khushaybi plant in Al-Qassim. The Kingdom is targeting 100–130 GW of renewable capacity by 2030.
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The TASC Take Around two-thirds of that pipeline is still being built or tendered, and much of it sits in remote regions. That means years of demand for construction crews, electrical and O&M technicians and site support far from the main cities — roles that are hard to fill and harder to keep. Plan mobilisation and accommodation early. |
Source: Arab News
Trade & Logistics
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780 new freight cars for SAR's phosphate expansion, plus 33 locomotives |
Saudi Arabia Railways (SAR) has signed a set of agreements with international firms to expand freight capacity and upgrade its systems. US manufacturer Progress Rail will supply 33 new freight locomotives, and Greenbrier will design and build 780 freight cars, for the North Railway Phosphate 3 expansion project.
France's Alstom signed a €22 million ($26 million) five-year contract to maintain onboard systems on locomotives running SAR's North-South corridor, which carries about 13.5 million tonnes of freight a year between mining sites, processing plants and export points. The deal covers real-time monitoring, spare parts, digital tools and workforce training.
SAR also hired Hitachi Rail to modernise signalling on the Al-Mashaaer Al-Mugaddassah Metro Line, and signed an MoU with Turkey's AstraG Teknoloji on digital rail technology. The contracts support knowledge transfer and local-content goals under the National Transport and Logistics Strategy.
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The TASC Take More freight on rail means more people around it: rolling-stock technicians, signalling engineers, yard and terminal teams, and the logistics staff who link rail to ports and mines. The training and knowledge-transfer clauses signal that skilled Saudi rail talent will be in demand — and in short supply. |
Source: Arab News
Finance & Capital Markets
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2.52% Saudi weighting in the JPMorgan GBI-EM bond index from January 2027 |
Saudi Arabia's riyal-denominated government sukuk will be included in the JPMorgan Government Bond Index-Emerging Markets (GBI-EM) from 29 January 2027, on a phased basis with an expected 2.52 percent weighting. Fitch Ratings said the inclusion “should attract further foreign investment,” building on reforms to deepen the local capital market under the Financial Sector Development Program.
Foreign participation is already rising: non-Saudi investors took 15 percent of the Kingdom's sovereign primary debt issuances in the first half of 2026, and foreign ownership of the main equity market's free float reached 12.7 percent at the end of August — helped by the removal of the Qualified Foreign Investor framework in February. Fitch noted the Saudi Exchange remained the GCC's largest bourse in September, at about 63 percent of the region's roughly $4 trillion market capitalisation.
Analysts said index inclusion creates structural foreign demand, moving riyal sukuk from a largely domestic market toward a mainstream global emerging-market asset.
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The TASC Take A deeper, more liquid capital market funds the projects that create jobs — and draws more international financial firms to Riyadh, on top of the 700-plus regional headquarters already here. Those firms need senior, decision-making hires and compliant payroll from day one, often before their local HR function exists. |
Source: Arab News
Retail & Entertainment
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8,462 active entertainment-centre registrations, up 62% since 2024 |
Saudi Arabia had 8,462 active commercial registrations for entertainment centres at the end of the first half of 2026, up from 5,216 in 2024 — a rise of nearly 62 percent in two years, according to Ministry of Commerce data reported by Al-Eqtisadiah. The figure was 7,640 in 2025.
Riyadh leads with 3,580 registrations, followed by Makkah province with 2,295 and the Eastern Province with 933. Much of the growth is in children's and family centres in shopping malls and neighbourhoods, some open more than 13 hours a day and later at weekends.
Operators are widening their offer beyond games to cafes, childcare and monthly memberships. Demand is broad: GASTAT figures show 75.3 percent of the population visited venues hosting cultural events or activities in 2025.
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The TASC Take Long opening hours and busy weekends mean shift-heavy rosters — floor staff, supervisors, childcare-trained attendants and F&B teams — with sharp peaks around holidays and Riyadh Season. That suits a mix of core staff and flexible contract workers, as long as the Saudisation mix is managed. |
Source: Arab News (Al-Eqtisadiah)
Trade & Investment
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$12bn Saudi-Italy trade in 2025, as a new Chambers–CDP MoU widens market access |
The Federation of Saudi Chambers and Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP), Italy's national promotional institution, signed a memorandum of understanding in Riyadh to strengthen economic ties and expand market access for businesses in both countries. Bilateral trade stood at $12 billion in 2025.
Federation Secretary General Sultan Al-Musallam said non-oil exports to Italy are growing, opening the Italian and wider European market to Saudi firms, with priority sectors over the next five years including infrastructure, telecoms, digital infrastructure and data centres, and tourism and culture. More than 100 Italian startups already operate in the Kingdom, with around €180 million deployed.
CDP's Dario Scannapieco said the partnership will relaunch a digital business-matching platform linking Italian and Saudi SMEs. The deal follows the January 2025 AlUla meeting that elevated relations to a strategic partnership; the Saudi-Italian Business Council meets in Rome in November.
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The TASC Take Cross-border partnerships land as hiring on the ground: joint ventures, new market entrants and SME tie-ups all need local teams, screening and compliant payroll. Firms entering via a matching platform rarely set up HR first — an EOR or contract-staffing partner lets them operate and hire from day one. |
Source: Arab News
Investments
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$2.58bn indicative value of a King Salman Gate JV in Makkah with Brunei's TAIB |
Two Public Investment Fund companies — RUA AlHaram AlMakki and Rua Al Madinah Holding — have signed strategic collaboration agreements with Brunei's Perbadanan Tabung Amanah Islam Brunei (TAIB), opening investment and development ties between Saudi Arabia and Brunei around Makkah and Madinah.
Under the first agreement, RUA AlHaram AlMakki and TAIB will explore a joint-venture investment within King Salman Gate in Makkah, covering hospitality and residential real estate with an indicative gross development value of about SR9.7 billion ($2.58 billion), subject to due diligence and approvals. A second agreement broadens collaboration across Makkah, Madinah and Brunei.
Signed in Brunei and witnessed by senior PIF executives, the deals bring an international partner into King Salman Gate and advance Rua Al Madinah's hospitality and commercial developments under Vision 2030.
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The TASC Take Mega-developments around the holy cities move from signing to staffing over several years — construction first, then the hospitality and operations teams who serve millions of pilgrims. Pre-opening recruitment, training and Saudisation planning need to start long before the doors open. |
Source: Arab News
TASC in Saudi Arabia
Saudization in 2026: key hiring rules for employers
Saudisation targets, Qiwa contract documentation and job-title rules have all tightened this year — and enforcement on illegal hiring is stepping up. Our guide sets out what changed, what it means for your Nitaqat band, and how to stay compliant while you hire.
TASC Outsourcing — People for Tomorrow. Contract staffing, permanent hiring, payroll and EOR across Saudi Arabia.
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