JEDDAH, 10 December 2002 — The Presidency of Civil Aviation (PCA) has dismissed fears that delays in the departure of number of planes from the pilgrims’ terminal at Jeddah’s King Abdul Aziz International Airport will upset regular flight schedules.
Asked about complaints by foreign airlines about delays in the departure of flights from the airport, a source at the presidency said an Emirates flight was delayed for a few hours when stewards suspected that one of the checked-in passengers was missing when the plane was preparing to take off. Later it was discovered that it was a mistake on the part of a steward who did not count a child whom the seat was allotted.
The official denied any other unusual departure delays.
The source said the presidency had warned the handling agents of the airlines of the shortage of mobile lounges to take passengers to aircraft and asked them to make alternative arrangements.
The source blamed the shortage of baggage carts at the terminal on passengers who arrive at the airport several hours ahead of departure and occupy most of the carts. This disrupted the movement of luggage, which also caused delays.
The foreign airline companies demanded the presidency to intervene immediately to end the delays, which caused losses to them.
Airline officials attributed the problems to lack of sufficient staff inside the terminal, in addition to increasing pressure from the pilgrims’ terminal from where some 50 flights leave a day. They stressed the need to upgrade the level of service, particularly as the Haj season is just round the corner.
A major problem faced by the airline companies is shortage of mobile lounges to take passengers to aircraft, according to Ahmad Al-Idrisi, head of the committee of foreign airlines at the airport. Only five lounges are available while 25 of them are required at peak hours, Al-Idrisi said.
The situation further worsens when drivers will not be available because they are assigned other work, he added.
Idrisi reiterated the need to increase facilities at the arrival lounge, which should serve 5,000 passengers at a time.
He has also pointed out that the check-in counters used by the airlines are obsolete and needed urgent updating.
