It was established in 2015 by the country's General Authority of Civil Aviation as part of the government's strategy to privatize nationwide publicly owned assets amid falling oil prices.

[1][2] In September 2013, Prince Fahd bin Abdullah al-Saud, then president of the General Authority of Civil Aviation floated the idea of privatization of Saudi Arabia's international airports before 2022 while opening them up to investments.

[4][5] In November 2015, the General Authority of Civil Aviation announced that Saudi Arabia's international and domestic airports would soon be opening up to foreign investments and will be privatized by 2020, beginning from the first quarter of 2016.

[9][10][11][12] Asharq al-Awsat reported that on the day of assuming responsibilities, the airport saw heavy mismanagement and irregularities in some of the terminals that resulted in the haphazard arrival and departure of several unscheduled flights, including the country's flag-carrier Saudia.

[14] In 2021, Bloomberg reported that the Saudi government relaunched its privatization strategy after the General Authority of Civil Aviation announced transferring of all the airports in the country to Matarat Holding.