JEDDAH: Come vacation season and there emerges a scene of overcrowding of travelers at the North Terminal of Jeddah’s King Abdul Aziz International Airport (KAIA). The scene was repeated on Thursday night when long serpentine queues of passengers with their luggage-laden trolleys jammed the airport entrance. Those who had to catch their flights within two to three hours were restless and would not know what to do. Most of such passengers took it for granted that they would miss their flights.
“I pleaded with a staff member of the airline I was traveling to help me. He initially pleaded helplessness, but when I told him I was traveling Business Class and returning First Class, he obliged,” said Nasir Mohammed, who was heading to Mumbai by an early morning flight on Friday.
Some others, especially those heading for Pakistan, India, Africa and Europe said they had a tough time and were inching their way to the scanning station after a wait of more than two hours.
The check-in formality also took time, as the conveyer belt that moves the baggage had developed a problem.
“The belt stopped frequently and conveying of the baggage took considerable time,” an airline staff member at one of the counters said. The belt was set right after a couple of hours.
Those who managed to complete their check-in formalities had another obstacle awaiting them. The long queues at the immigration were not moving at all. The reason: The computer system had slowed down for three to four hours. Consequently, some flights had delayed departures.
“We had two flights around midnight and both left after a delay of more than five hours,” said an official with an Asian airline.
However, airport officials swung into action immediately and streamlined the various systems and services. The entire airport procedure was smooth from Friday morning.
The airport management, headed by its Director Mazen Khashoggi, advised all airlines and travel agencies much before the advent of the holiday season to see that their passengers reported at the airport “sufficiently in advance” due to the expected rush.
“It will be in the interest of all if the passengers report four to five hours before their scheduled flight so that they could go through all airport formalities during the rush season,” another official said.
A visit to the airport showed a number of passengers, especially those heading for African countries, were squatting at the terminals.
“Squatting is usually seen during Umrah, Haj and holiday rush seasons, but the authorities are tackling the issue,” he said.
