SAUDI ARABIA —The Terminal 2 expansion at Prince Mohammed bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Madinah will receive a new automated baggage handling system under a contract awarded to Leonardo, MAFA Co. Ltd. and BELTCON. The project is intended to expand baggage processing capacity and support the airport’s expected passenger growth.
Leonardo will provide its MBHS Cross-belt Sorter together with the Sort Allocation Computer, which will manage baggage routing for departing, transferring and arriving passengers. The technology will be deployed in Saudi Arabia for the first time, adding automated sorting capability to the airport’s expanded terminal infrastructure.
MAFA and BELTCON will undertake the wider delivery scope, covering engineering, system integration, manufacturing, installation, testing and commissioning. Their responsibilities extend across the complete baggage handling system, making the project dependent on coordination between sorting technology, conveyor infrastructure and airport operating systems.
The system is being introduced at an airport that currently handles approximately eight million passengers annually. Its capacity and operating flexibility are therefore relevant to the expansion of aviation infrastructure in Madinah, where passenger demand is supported by tourism, business travel and religious travel associated with Hajj and Umrah.
The MBHS Cross-belt Sorter is designed to process both conventional and irregularly shaped baggage. Its operating architecture incorporates linear motor technology, inductive power transmission and wireless communication, while the associated Sort Allocation Computer provides automated routing across different baggage flows within the terminal.
Installation is scheduled to start in January 2027, followed by final system commissioning expected in April 2027. The timetable places the baggage automation package within the broader development schedule for Terminal 2 and provides the airport with additional automated handling infrastructure as it prepares for future traffic increases.
The development is relevant to airport operators, aviation infrastructure contractors and automation suppliers across Saudi Arabia and the wider Middle East. Increasing passenger volumes are creating demand for baggage systems that can integrate with existing airport operations while providing scalable handling capacity, making projects such as the Madinah deployment part of the region’s broader airport infrastructure investment cycle.
Leonardo is an Italian aerospace, defence and security group with activities spanning aircraft, electronics, helicopters, cyber and security systems. MAFA operates in Saudi Arabia’s airport infrastructure market, while BELTCON provides engineering, manufacturing and integration capabilities for baggage handling and conveyor systems.
