Explore the world's largest self-inflating aircraft hangar

Buildair's self-inflating warehouse can accommodate large passenger aircraft such as the Boeing 787 or Airbus A330 and has an extremely short construction period.

Opposite the main terminal of King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah is a large white structure whose height makes the jumbo jets parked nearby look small. This is the largest self-inflating warehouse in the world, built in 2019 by Buildair, the Barcelona company that has built similar facilities of various sizes at several other airports in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. .

The Jeddah H75 warehouse is used for commercial aircraft maintenance. (Photo: Buildair)

Buildair is one of a few companies, including Ireland's JB Roche, UAE's Aviatech and Russia's Aviastroy, that can deploy self-inflating construction on demand. In which, Buildair operates in the very large construction market segment. One of the company's standout facilities is the warehouse in Jeddah, which is used by an air service company in Saudi Arabia to maintain commercial aircraft.

Measuring 81 meters long, 75 meters wide and 25.5 meters high, the facility can accommodate large passenger aircraft the size of Boeing 787 or Airbus A330. This record may soon be toppled by Buildair, which has designed an increasingly larger self-inflating warehouse that can hold the largest passenger jet. The barn's striped shape is due to the construction created by PVC-coated self-inflating yarn tubes.

Air is regularly injected from both ends of the hose to inflate and maintain the desired air pressure. An automatic control system continuously monitors the pressure inside the tube. The air pressure decreases over time as the air slowly escapes and the volume of the gas also changes with temperature. To prevent this, Buildair developed a proprietary technology called AIRTIGHT to seal and fix the building in place without needing to pump air into the duct all the time.

One advantage of self-inflating warehouses is that unlike brick and mortar construction, radio frequencies can be transmitted. Therefore, there are not many restrictions on the location of warehouse construction inside the airport. The air in the duct acts as an insulator, creating an air chamber between the inner and outer walls. The width of the air chamber can be up to several meters (for example, the warehouse in Jeddah has a 7.5 m wide air chamber), so technicians can work inside the warehouse at any time and in any situation. weather events. The inside of the warehouse is equipped with lighting, air conditioning and fire prevention systems.

Self-inflating structures do not last forever like conventional warehouses and will need to be replaced in the future. However, with good maintenance, the self-inflating warehouse can operate for many years. Even if the outer walls show signs of wear and tear from the effects of weather and sunlight, engineers can replace them piecemeal.

The time from planning to when the warehouse was put into operation took less than 3 months. Assembly can be completed in just a few hours and no ground-breaking is required to install the building. In addition, anchors can be used to attach buildings to concrete blocks or soft ground. In all cases, sheds of this type can be dismantled without leaving a permanent mark.