JEDDAH, 25 July — The Presidency of Civil Aviation has awarded a contract worth SR5 million to a national company for replacing malfunctioning air-conditioning units at the airport, Sami Maqboul, director of King Abdul Aziz International Airport in Jeddah, has said.
The company is expected to complete installation work by the beginning of September. Under the contract, two main units and 13 ancillary units of the airport’s air-conditioning system will be replaced.
Passengers and employees at Jeddah airport’s South Terminal have been suffering a great deal since the cooling system broke down a few days ago. Passengers are complaining about the problem which is yet to be rectified.
A passenger traveling from Madinah to Dammam via Jeddah yesterday said he had to leave the airport because of the heat inside the transit lounge. He said he could not wait for three hours at the lounge to catch his 10 p.m. flight to Dammam.
Maqboul said the air-conditioning system at the airport was outdated and damaged. Even though technicians have carried out temporary repairs, they could not restore the system fully.
Arab News last week reported that the malfunctioning of the air-conditioning system had caused a lot of inconvenience to the passengers as well as the airport employees. Another official at the airport said the air-conditioning units were in use for more than 15 years and had passed their anticipated durability.
Officials blamed the breakdown of the air-conditioning system on corrosion caused by diesel vapors coming from machinery used inside the terminal buildings such as the conveyor belts and escalators. They said the air-conditioning system absorbs the vapors that caused corrosion in the cooling plates.
Saudi Arabian Airlines had been asked to replace diesel-powered service vehicles with electric-powered ones, but it has not complied with the request so far. A Saudia official said the airline needs time to replace the baggage carriers. He said replacement of mobile lounges used by the airline was the responsibility of the Civil Aviation Authority.
The airport’s cooling system had failed last summer and a national company had been awarded an SR17 million contract to repair the system.
Meanwhile, a Dutch company contracted for designing the airport’s expansion plan caused a rupture in a pipeline cutting off water supply to the South Terminal. The company’s technicians were conducting a soil test when they accidentally damaged the pipeline. Abdul Wahed Gari, director of operation and maintenance at the airport, said maintenance crew had been working to restore the water supply.
Aircraft lease firm seeks funds: Saudi businessmen are seeking $200 million in investment to launch an aircraft leasing firm which is to operate according to Islamic financial laws, officials and a bank advising the project said yesterday.
“The offering of $200 million equity began in June and will end on Sept. 6. The minimum subscription is $1 million,” a bank official said.
The new firm, Islamic Aircraft Leasing Company (IALC), plans to provide 15 to 20 aircraft which will be leased to airlines, said a statement from Bahrain-based Gulf International Bank (GIB).
GIB and Ernst & Young are the financial advisers for the IALC and placement agents. “The shares in IALC...are targeted primarily at institutions, which are then expected to offer units or participation to their investors and depositors,” it said.
The statement said sponsors included Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Sulaiman, the former vice president of Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Sheikh Hamad Al-Sulaiman, who heads a Saudi private company.
The portfolio is to be managed by Geneva-based Novus Management, the statement said.
