The Global Airports Forum, with its Global Aviation Issues Conference, will be held at the Riyadh Front Exhibition and Conference Center on 30 November and 1 December 2026 for its fifth edition. The forum is organised by Niche Ideas, and the Global Aviation Issues Conference is presented by the International Association of Airport Executives in partnership with the American Association of Airport Executives. Matarat Holding, the airports company owned by the General Authority of Civil Aviation, is the main sponsor, according to the official event site.
The two day conference sits alongside the exhibition and addresses artificial intelligence in airport operations, cyber security, advanced air mobility and airspace management, together with airport development and financing. Airport executives from the United States and internationally attend, alongside ICAO, IATA and the civil aviation authorities of the region, according to the organiser.
The event matters to executives because Saudi Arabia is in the middle of a large aviation investment programme, which the organiser puts at 147 billion dollars, covering the new King Salman International Airport in Riyadh, the expansion of the Matarat network and the growth of new carriers. Airport operators, engineering firms, technology suppliers and airlines use the forum to meet the authority and the airport companies that award those contracts.
Registration and the programme are published on the AAAE site for the Global Airports Forum series.
