JEDDAH: The General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA) has sent a strongly worded message to employees at airports after registering a number of abuses and practices it described as "negative", which it said have not been taken lightly by passengers. GACA said that such behavior presents a bad image of the Kingdom and its people and paints them in a negative light.

Some of these practices include smoking outside of the designated smoking areas, using mobile phones while processing passengers’ papers and not following the correct ways of politely addressing passengers.

According to Okaz, the higher management of GACA is dismayed by the employees’ practice, which goes against the efforts being made to improve the quality of service at the Kingdom's airports.

Officials said that the letter to airport managers came as part of a new strategy being implemented by new GACA President Sulieman bin Abdullah Al-Hamdan. They said that Al-Hamdan is working against “slackness" at airports, as the airport is the first point of contact for visitors to the country and can therefore make a lasting impression.

GACA called on all airport managers to hold meetings with their preparatory security committees to identify the appropriate penalties for all those involved in wrongful practices at the airports.