Flight departures, which were delayed over last six days due to technical reasons and overcrowding, especially at the North Terminal, were more or less under control. They were late by minutes instead of hours as in the past few days.

Most of the arrivals at both terminals were nearly on schedule even during the past week.

However, a few airlines had their flights arriving much behind schedule.

“That was mostly due to delayed departures from Jeddah,” an Asian airline executive said.

The delayed departures were also due to the malfunctioning of conveyor belts which, according to airport officials, were caused by heavy pieces of luggage checked in by passengers.

The two terminals remained a scene of hectic activity on Sunday, with both Umrah returnees and holidaymakers leaving for various overseas destinations. According to airline officials, the situation should further ease by Wednesday, as a large number of Umrah pilgrims would have left by then. Some airline officials said all their flights were fully booked until Sept. 15.

Some of those who traveled on Sunday had their bookings rescheduled, as they could not reach the check-in counters in time in the past few days. Some others were lucky to have delayed their bookings.

“It’s a happy coincidence that we are leaving today and did not plan it in the past five or six days, as we would otherwise have been among the victims of overcrowding,” said Salah Kosba, a pilgrim leaving for Cairo.

“A metropolitan city like Jeddah needs a bigger airport and better infrastructure to handle the kind of rush seen in the past six days,” said Syed Shah Khusro Hussaini, a member of the General Assembly of International Islamic Relief Organization and president of the Khaja Education Society in the southern Indian city of Gulbarga.

“It’s disappointing to see pilgrims waiting outside the airport for hours to gain entry into the lounge area,” said Hussaini, who was traveling by Emirates along with an Umrah group.

Some other travelers said there ought to be proper regulation of queues both at the airport gate and lounge for reaching the check-in area. “Whatever the size of rush, this kind of confusion is not seen at world’s major airports,” one of them said.