JEDDAH: Lack of compliance by representatives of some Haj operators with flight schedules at King Abdul Aziz International Airport (KAIA) in Jeddah has led to the accumulation of large groups of pilgrims at the airport, causing severe crowding of passengers waiting up to 12 hours for their flight times. “On Sunday, there were 230 flights via Saudi Arabian Airlines and 51 flights via Nas Airways within 24 hours,” explained an official at the airport.

He said this creates extreme pressure on airport employees and takes up seating space for passengers, noting that the airport is expected to see larger crowds of pilgrims in the coming period due to missed flight times and the fact that many Haj service companies bring pilgrims to the airport the night before the flight to wait.

“Our flight time was at 6:00 p.m. but I came to the airport at 10:00 a.m. and have been awaiting for my flight inside the airport with my family,” said one passenger traveling back to Pakistan.

Added citizen Ahmad Al-Ghamdi, “My wife and I have been waiting for our flight to Riyadh at the terminal, and we arrived at the airport five hours before our flight.”

Pilgrim Natheer Khan says he was brought to the airport 12 hours before the flight was to depart after campaign officials said their flight time was moved up, which turned out not to be the case. Wale Sarhan, assistant chairman of the General Civil Aviation Authority for Corporate Communications, confirmed in a press statement that 14 halls were prepared to facilitate travel procedures for pilgrims traveling to different countries.

He said 66 flights carrying 20,000 pilgrims were scheduled for Sunday in addition to flights carrying pilgrims to GCC countries who will leave through the north and south terminals at the airport.