JEDDAH: Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal on Saturday met with senior department officials and said he wanted a detailed report on the chaos and confusion caused at King Abdulaziz International Airport recently that involved a group of stranded Egyptian pilgrims.
"The related departments have been asked to explain the reasons for the problems caused at the airport by a group of Egyptian pilgrims. The report should be presented within a week and should include solutions for such problems," an official statement said.
Prince Khaled made this statement following a meeting with senior officials including Faisal Al-Sugair, president of the General Authority of Civil Aviation; Eissa Rawass, deputy Haj minister for Umrah affairs; Essam Fouad Noor, executive director of Saudi Arabian Airlines at KAIA; Col. Ali Al-Dhahiry, acting commander of airport security; and Muhammad Aabid, director general of the airport.
The meeting discussed ways of improving vital services and solutions for major problems facing the region, the Saudi Press Agency said quoting an official statement. Prince Khaled said the growing number of Umrah pilgrims every year demanded improvement of services.
He also referred to the SR100 billion King Abdullah project for the development of Makkah and the holy sites, saying it would bring about dramatic improvement in services to the guests of God.
The chaos and confusion at KAIA took place in this beginning of this month when hundreds of Egyptian and Algerian pilgrims without confirmed bookings fought with officials of Saudi Arabian Airlines. The GACA said most pilgrims who caused problems at the airport did not have confirmed bookings and carried huge pieces of baggage in violation of GACA and IATA regulations.
GACA criticized the irresponsible behavior of some pilgrims, saying it put greater pressure on the airlines' frontline staff and resulted in some pilgrims missing their flights. It attributed the delay in some flights to operational reasons.
GACA said relevant authorities set up a joint operations room in order to deal with the situation and set out an emergency plan for the departure of all stranded pilgrims. It accused some Egyptian pilgrims of entering the operation areas and departure halls, creating chaos and delaying flights.
This year's Ramadan Umrah season saw the arrival of 4.93 million foreign pilgrims, registering an increase of 1.85 million compared to last year. The largest contingents of Umrah pilgrims came from Iran, Egypt, Pakistan and Turkey.
© Arab News 2011
