RIYADH: Passengers who were to use the King Khaled Airport in Riyadh Saturday resorted to the Saudi Arabian Airlines Club to ship their luggage and complete travel procedures in order to avoid the large crowds and chaos at the airport, a situation for which there have been mutual recriminations from GACA and Saudi Arabian Airlines.
GACA said it had been monitoring the luggage accumulation crisis and found that there was an obstructed flow of operations at the airport; it called for a meeting with Saudi Arabian Airlines and a several agencies at the airport to identify and address the problem.
The organization accused the airline of failures to discharge itself of its responsibilities and of irregularities that led to an increase in the number of unscheduled flights that were not approved by GACA or the airport administration.
In a press release, GACA said King Khaled International Airport has the capacity to absorb only 12 million passengers, but is currently handling 24 million passengers, and that has caused the breakdown of the old baggage conveyors.
Measures were taken to address the problem and ensure it does not recur, as well as to hold those responsible for the crisis accountable, regardless of their status or position, said GACA, noting that additional unscheduled and unapproved flights were canceled.
Saudia, GACA pass blame for crowding at airport terminal
Saudia, GACA pass blame for crowding at airport terminal
