JEDDAH, 11 December 2005 — Saudi authorities have taken tough measures to ensure the prompt arrival and departure of Haj flights and prevent pilgrims from becoming overstayers in the Kingdom. Airlines carrying pilgrims will be fined SR200,000 if their flights arrive after Jan. 4, the last date for incoming Haj flights.
In a statement issued yesterday, the Civil Aviation Corporation said it would impose a fine of SR100,000 on every airline that enters the Kingdom’s airspace without prior permission to land. “The plane will not be allowed to leave until the fine has been paid,” the Saudi Press Agency quoted the corporation as saying. The CAC warning comes as foreign pilgrims have already begun arriving for the Haj which is scheduled to begin Jan. 8. More than a million of some 1.5 million pilgrims who come from abroad arrive by plane. Saudi Arabian Airlines has made preparations to transport the largest number of foreign pilgrims.
The corporation toughened its measures following complaints by pilgrims about flight delays. It said airlines would be fined SR15,000 for each flight in violation of air traffic regulations. “We will also fine each airline that delays return flights of their pilgrims SR15,000,” it added.
Airlines transporting pilgrims must present a passenger manifest to airport authorities. Any failure or delay in presenting the manifest means a fine of SR10,000, the corporation said. It will impose a fine of SR2,500 on the airline and its agents in the Kingdom for each passenger brought to the Kingdom without a confirmed return ticket. The total fine for these violations, however, must not exceed SR100,000.
“This measure is taken to prevent pilgrims overstaying their visas and squatting at airport lobbies,” it added.
The corporation also said that its airline safety department had issued licenses to a large number of aircraft to transport pilgrims this year.
