Five companies are competing to design an important upgrade at Bahrain International Airport.

The five interested companies, according to Gulf Daily News, are ADPI, Aecom, Dar Al Handasah Consultants and NACO.

Expansion plans will increase the terminal by 50 per cent. Initial estimates suggest the design work could cost up to 20 million Bahraini dinar (£34 million), while the overall project could reach as much as $1 billion (£638 million).

Improvements will add around 40 new check-in counters, five contact gates, nine remote gates and a large transfer facility. This could increase annual passenger capacity from nine million to 13.5 million.

Bahrain International Airport is looking to compete with others in the region, such as Dubai International Airport. Competing airports have recently been redesigned and improved, while Bahrain has remained unchanged since 1994. Plans and discussions were originally started in 2011, but a number of issues prevented it from happening, including the three-year restructuring scheme currently underway by Gulf Air.