DAMMAM, 10 February — Despite a stern warning from the Presidency of Civil Aviation (PCA), a few airlines continue to transport air passengers by buses from the Eastern Province to neighboring Bahrain along the King Fahd Causeway, to be flown from there to their final destinations.
The PCA declared such operation illegal and warned that violating airlines would be heavily fined.
Kuwait Airways was the first to respond to the PCA call and stopped carrying passengers by road. A few days later, Emirates followed suit. And Qatar Airways has announced that it would stop the practice as of Wednesday.
But weeks after the PCA warning, Gulf Air and Indian Airlines continue to carry their passengers by road to Bahrain. These airlines have, however, changed their modus operandi.
The initial practice was to issue boarding cards to the passengers and then carry them on board Saudi-Bahraini Transport Co. buses to Bahrain. Now, these airlines have stopped issuing boarding cards to such passengers and are not checking in their luggage. Instead, the boarding cards are now issued at Bahrain airport and luggage is also checked in there.
The airlines claim that they are not violating any rules by doing so, as the passengers are free to travel to the destination of their choice and that the transport company has the right to carry them.
The PCA is caught in a tricky situation as technically these SABTCO passengers are not airline passengers. However, the police department is keeping a watch on the airlines’ so-called city terminals and on passengers moving around with their luggage.
During a meeting with airline executives here recently, PCA officials asked all the foreign airlines to stop land transport of air passengers. The officials made it clear that there would be "very tough" fines on violators.
