Saudi Arabia · elevation 1651 ft AMSL
· 24.0627, 47.5805
Prince Sultan Air Base (Al Kharj) is an airport with the ICAO code OEPS and the IATA code AKH. Country: Saudi Arabia. Nearest settlement listed in the database: Al Kharj. OurAirports classifies it as a medium-sized airport. Its ICAO code starts with the OE prefix, which marks airports in Saudi Arabia. The four-letter code OEPS is used in flight operations and weather reports, while the three-letter IATA code AKH is used for ticketing and baggage handling. The airport reference point sits at 24°03'46"N, 47°34'50"E, at an elevation of 1,651 ft (503 m) above sea level. The applicable time zone is Asia/Riyadh.
Aerial imagery showing the runway and apron layout - the zoom is matched to the longest runway.
| Threshold | Course | Length | Width | Surface |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17L | 170° | 4,000 m (13,123 ft) | 45 m (148 ft) | asphalt |
| 35R | 350° | |||
| 17R | 170° | 4,000 m (13,123 ft) | 45 m (148 ft) | asphalt |
| 35L | 350° |
The course is derived from the runway designator (number × 10), not from a survey - the actual magnetic bearing can differ by a few degrees.
Declared distances (TORA, TODA, ASDA, LDA) are published in the national AIP - they are not part of this table.
What the METAR reports from OEPS for 2023-2025 show - counted hour by hour.
We computed these statistics from 25,360 METAR reports issued by OEPS in 2023-2025. VFR conditions prevailed 93% of the time, MVFR 5% and IFR or LIFR 2%. Best month for VFR flying: July (98% of hours VFR). Most IFR and LIFR hours: February (4%).
IFR and LIFR conditions are rare here at any time of day.
Fog (FG) was reported on 1.3 days a year on average, most often in January. Thunderstorms (TS) occurred on 5.7 days a year on average, and snowfall practically never.
The wind most often blows from N (0°) - 9% of reports. Calm (0 kt) made up 23% of reports, and gusts of 25 kt or more appeared in 1%. Warmest month: July (average high 44.9 °C); coldest: January (average low 10.9 °C).
Day counts are for the selected period (for all years - the yearly average).
The top of each bar is the average daily high, the bottom the average daily low (usually around dawn), in °C.
Most often: N - 9% of reports. Each petal shows the direction the wind blows from (as in METAR) - the longer it is, the more often. Colour shows wind speed.
| Month | Avg high °C | Avg low °C | VFR | IFR/LIFR | Fog days | Thunderstorm days | Snow days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 21.3 | 10.9 | 88% | 3% | 0.7 | 1 | 0 |
| February | 23.8 | 12.3 | 90% | 4% | 0 | 0.3 | 0 |
| March | 28.3 | 16.4 | 91% | 2% | 0 | 1.3 | 0 |
| April | 33.7 | 21.4 | 91% | 2% | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| May | 40.1 | 26.6 | 91% | 3% | 0 | 1.3 | 0 |
| June | 43.8 | 28.9 | 93% | 1% | 0 | 0.3 | 0 |
| July | 44.9 | 30.4 | 98% | 0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| August | 44.7 | 31.1 | 92% | 1% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| September | 41.8 | 27.6 | 97% | 1% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| October | 35.7 | 22.6 | 97% | <1% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| November | 29.4 | 17.4 | 96% | <1% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| December | 23.6 | 12.2 | 91% | 2% | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0 |
Temperatures are averages of daily highs and lows. Day counts are the average per month over the period.
According to OurAirports data (compiled from AIP and FAA sources), Prince Sultan Air Base (Al Kharj) has 2 runways: 17L/35R - 4,000 m long (13,123 ft), 45 m wide, asphalt surface; 17R/35L - 4,000 m long (13,123 ft), 45 m wide, asphalt surface.
The longest of them is 17L/35R, at 4,000 m.
The thresholds are oriented as follows: 17L/35R on 170° and 350° magnetic, 17R/35L on 170° and 350° magnetic. A threshold designator is its magnetic heading divided by ten (ICAO Annex 14), so the runway axis can be read straight off the numbers.
For the 17L/35R axis, wind from the west (around 260°) or from the east (around 80°) blows perpendicular to the runway and produces the largest crosswind component. Wind from around 170° or 350° acts along the runway, as a headwind or a tailwind. The decoder on this page computes those components automatically from the current METAR.
Weather reports for Prince Sultan Air Base (Al Kharj) are published under the ICAO code OEPS. A METAR is an observation of current conditions, usually issued every 30 or 60 minutes; a TAF is a forecast for the airport area, typically covering 9 to 30 hours.
The decoder breaks the OEPS report down into its parts: wind direction and speed including gusts and variability, visibility (including CAVOK and directional minimum visibility), weather phenomena by WMO code, cloud layers with their bases, temperature and dew point, QNH pressure, and the resulting flight category - VFR, MVFR, IFR or LIFR - using FAA thresholds.
Not every airport issues its own reports; many smaller airfields have no weather station. If no current data is available for OEPS, check the nearby airports listed below.
Reports always use UTC (the Z suffix). The Asia/Riyadh zone stays at GMT+03:00 year-round, so converting to local time is always the same shift.
The closest airports in the database, measured in a straight line from the reference point, are Al Kharj Airport (OEKJ, 17 km), Khashm Alan Air Base (Riyadh) (OEKA, 91 km), King Salman Air Base (Riyadh) (OESN, 104 km). When no report is available for OEPS, they usually give the best approximation of conditions in the area.
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Check VFR MapThe METAR archive for OEPS goes back to 18/09/2020. Pick a date and see every observation from that day.
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