If they refuse to take up the option they still have the monopoly for a further 10 years whilst the airport is being built, and once built it is going to take a leap of faith for airlines to start using it because KSA will have the vast majority of the flights still.
I cannot think of any cities that have 2 international airports operating successfully, the only time this works is when the new airport is a replacement for the old (Hong Kong, Paris) because people don't want the hassle of transferring between airports for flight connections.
I don't believe their are companies queuing up to develop this airport because it's such a huge risk it will be left up to the gov to build it. Once built the gov could then sell it off once it's proved it's viability and at this point SYD could make an offer if the figures stack up, because it will be best placed to run it.
Their is also reports in today's papers that the curfew at KSA might be relaxed and more flights allowed per hour which is yet another reason to reject the offer to build the new airport.
Just look at TCL who bought the toll roads around Brisbane for a song when the original developer when bust because they couldn't recover the cost of their debits.
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