Smart Makkah Plans Put Crowd Monitoring at the Center of Future Mobility

Makkah’s planned airport and metro projects are taking shape alongside the city’s broader Smart Makkah program, where AI-driven crowd monitoring is becoming a central tool for managing pilgrim movement, easing congestion, and improving safety around the holy sites

Plans for Makkah’s future airport and metro system are moving ahead as the city deepens its Smart Makkah strategy, with crowd monitoring emerging as one of the most important pillars of that vision.

According to Saudi Gazette, officials said approval has been secured for the strategic and economic directions of the Makkah Airport project, while feasibility studies and preliminary designs for the Makkah Metro have also been completed. The projects are part of a wider effort to improve mobility and readiness in a city that receives millions of pilgrims and visitors every year.

Saudi Gazette reported that the Smart Makkah program is already using artificial intelligence to monitor and manage crowd movement in and around the Grand Mosque. This includes predictive systems for crowd flow at the Jamarat Bridge and central zones, as well as aerial imaging integrated with the Balady application to improve oversight and the pilgrim experience.

That makes the airport and metro plans relevant not only from a transport perspective, but also from a smart-city and security standpoint. In Makkah, mobility infrastructure is closely tied to how authorities manage density, reduce congestion, and maintain safer movement during peak pilgrimage seasons. Better air access and a future metro network could help distribute flows more efficiently across the city and holy sites.

Saudi Gazette also pointed to broader upgrades that support this direction, including improved bus, taxi and guided transport services, expanded pedestrian areas, additional shaded spaces and new service facilities around the Grand Mosque. These measures collectively reflect a city model in which transport planning, crowd intelligence, and public safety are becoming more closely integrated.

For the security industry, Makkah is increasingly standing out as a regional example of how smart-city infrastructure can be designed around real-time monitoring and large-scale crowd management. As reported by Saudi Gazette, the city’s future mobility projects appear set to strengthen not only access and convenience, but also operational control and resilience at one of the world’s most demanding urban destinations.