Sometimbe back, a Jeddah businessman wrote an article in a local Arabic daily comparing Jeddah’s King Abdul Aziz International Airport with Dubai’s international terminal. “A visitor to Dubai,” he wrote, “will conclude that its airport is at least 20 years ahead of KAIA. Dubai’s airport differs from KAIA in every aspect: Design, integrated services, cleanliness, treatment of passengers and the smooth and orderly way in which things are done. It is an airport which greets visitors with a broad smile... It treats all visitors as first-class citizens.”
He was right. KAIA, though rated as one of the best in the region at the time of its construction, has not had a major overhaul for nearly 23 years while, every year, the number of passengers using the facility is on a steady increase. During peak periods, Ramadan for instance, the normal passenger traffic is hugely increased by the influx of pilgrims. The new Umrah visa system has brought more pilgrims. According to one estimate, more than nine million Umrah visitors will come to Jeddah every year. Add to that the hundreds of thousands of holidaymakers during the vacation season. This number of airline passengers on the move calls for very pragmatic planning. There must be more parking spaces around the airport and also separate arrival and departure lounges.
While the construction of a new airport terminal capable of meeting the demands of the expanding traffic may not be possible in a matter of weeks or months, there are steps that can be taken immediately to address some of the most vexing problems. The number of airline staff and customs and immigration officers can be increased. There is also an urgent need to streamline the functions of the Umrah operators. The pilgrims are supposed to be transferred to Makkah and Madinah in special buses. This almost never happens. The Haj Ministry and Umrah tour operators should coordinate their efforts to immediately ferry the arriving pilgrims to the holy cities. Their stay time at the airport should be cut down drastically.
Airlines too are to blame for the mess at the airport. In many instances, they issue tickets with confirmed bookings when there really are no seats available. As a result, a great number of pilgrims camp at the airport in the hope of getting a seat on any return flight. But, because of the rush this doesn’t happen.
Already an expansion project has been approved which plans to increase the airport’s annual handling capacity from the present 13 million to 21 million passengers by 2020. But that is another 16 years away and the present chaos cannot be allowed to continue until then. Drastic steps need to be taken immediately to control the number of pilgrims and to streamline their arrival and departure. Tickets should be uplifted and boarding passes issued at city airline offices. Only those with boarding passes should be allowed inside the terminals. Adequate public transportation for the airport will solve the parking problem. It is high time that we treated the guests of the Bride of the Red Sea as human beings, not cattle.
