JEDDAH, 29 February 2004 — Dr. Khaled Ben-Bakr, director general of Saudi Arabian Airlines, yesterday formally launched the national carrier’s automatic boarding pass system at King Abdul Aziz Airport here.
The equipment will also be made available at Riyadh, Dammam and Madinah airports in the first phase.
“Now all passengers traveling on domestic flights can get their boarding passes without waiting at counters or approaching staff,” Dr. Ben-Bakr said. Some 8,000 passengers already used the system during its trial phase in the last 10 days.
The facility will be available in Riyadh next month. Passengers traveling from King Fahd International Airport in Dammam and Prince Muhammad Airport in Madinah will get the service within a few months.
Four machines have been installed in Jeddah. “There will also be four machines each in Riyadh, Dammam and Madinah, to be increased later,” he added.
Yousuf Abdul Qader Atiyya, Saudia’s assistant vice president for client services, emphasized the importance of improving services.
“Recently Saudia introduced an automatic booking system through the Internet. It was a big success,” he said.
The new automatic boarding pass system will serve domestic passengers with confirmed bookings.
“All they have to do is enter the booking number and select suitable seats by touching instructions on the screen. They will get the boarding pass within half a minute and can then go straight to the departure gate for boarding,” he said.
The project was designed by a team of Saudia staff with the assistance of a local Saudi company, he said.
More than 500,000 passengers from King Abdul Aziz Airport are expected to use the facility annually.
He also announced plans for a single round-the-clock phone number linking all booking offices in the Kingdom.
