| Khamis Mushait خـميــس مشيـــط |
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| Province | Asir |
| Government | |
| - Prince | Saeed Bin Mushait |
| Population (2004) | |
| - Total | 446,467 |
| Time zone | GMT +3 (UTC+3) |
Khamis Mushait (Arabic: خميس مشيط Khamis Mushait) is a city in south-west Saudi Arabia, located 35 minutes east of Abha, the provincial seat of the Asir province in southwest Saudi Arabia. It is the capital for The Shahran Tribe. Until the 1970s Khamis Mushait was a small town of less than 50,000 servicing the surrounding mild-climate agricultural region. Since then its population has grown eight-fold to reach 446,467 (2004 census). The city is the largest city in Asir province tribe, one of the most populated regions in Saudi Arabia, nowadays, The city's name comes from the weekly market that is held each Thursday, and "Khamis" simply is the Arabic word for Thursday. In the past, the city was called Khamis Bin Hamdan, who was the governor of the city.
Transportation
Airport
Commercial air service to Khamis Mushait is via the Abha Regional Airport, located 35 minutes west of Khamis Mushayt proper. Multiple daily flights are operated to Abha from Jeddah, Dammam, and Riyadh by Saudi Arabian Airlines.
Military Airbase
King Khalid Air Base (KMX) has a 12,400ft paved runway without customs facilities[1]. The base was designed and built by US Army and Air Force engineers in the 1960s and 70s[2].
Khamis Mushait is one of the 6 main Saudi Air Force bases (the others being Taif, Jeddah, Dhahran, Riyadh and Tabuk). At Khamis Mushait are F-15C/D, F-15S (a slightly downgraded F-15E strike variant[3]), Tornado IDS, F-5 (The F-5 aircraft were removed from KKAB in the late 80s and transferred to Riyadh). AH64 Apache helicopters and Blackhawks were based here for training and servicing in support of the armour and artillery schools at the King Khalid Military City close by[4].
During the Gulf War of 1990, US F-117A aircraft were based in Khamis Mushait[5][6]. At that time, they flew from Khamis Mushait directly to Baghdad or beyond and back to Khamis Mushayt.
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Coordinates: 18°18′N 42°44′E / 18.3°N 42.733°E
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