Opened in 1981, it was built to replace the now-demolished Kandara Airport and is named after the founder of Saudi Arabia, King Abdulaziz.

Following a meeting between King Abdulaziz and Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945, the kingdom was gifted a Douglas DC-3 that was operated between the cities of Jeddah, Riyadh, and Dhahran.

Construction work began in 1974 and was finalized in 1980, before the airport opened for service on May 31, 1981, having been inaugurated a month earlier.

The architectural design of the building was modeled on Dulles International Airport in the American capital, Washington, D.C., and incorporated tent-like structures.

The terminal building consisted of separate departure and arrival lounges, and gates equipped with jet bridges.

[13] The roof is composed of ten modules, each consisting of twenty-one white tent-like Teflon-coated fiberglass structures suspended from pylons.

Not enclosed by walls, this area is sheltered from the intense sun while allowing for natural ventilation; because of this, some consider it to be a green, environmentally-friendly building.

The plan included the construction of Terminal 1 and the tallest air traffic control tower in the world at 136 metres (446 ft), airfield hard-standing and paved areas, lighting, fuel network systems, electronic passenger guidance systems and a new storm water drainage network.

The development project also includes newly constructed support services building and upgrades to the existing runway and airfield systems.

Media related to King Abdulaziz International Airport at Wikimedia Commons This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency