RIYADH — The General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) is following up on the quality of facilities and the services provided in the airports in order to improve the experiences of the Hajj pilgrims.

GACA is keen, with partnership with airports and the operating companies, to offer the best services for the Hajj pilgrims through applying the highest standards of safety and security.

It is also keen in providing facilities at a high-quality level, in addition to providing all the possible services that contribute in easing the trips and the procedures for pilgrims.

Due to the importance of the Hajj season and the efforts that Saudi Arabia's government makes to serve the pilgrims, in addition, to the pivotal role of GACA during the Hajj 1444 AH, the authority is ensuring that the services providers in the airports and the air carriers are applying all safety and quality standards.

GACA is also monitoring the performance of the services provided for pilgrims, as well as improving their experience through building indicators that measure the services performance.

The measures have been set up in order to offer them a distinguished experience that contributes to increasing their satisfaction rate.

This comes within GACA's supervisory role in the aviation and airports sector, which it conducts in accordance with the highest international standards.

It also comes within the implementation of the directives of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Salman to provide the best services for the pilgrims who are coming to Saudi Arabia to perform the Hajj rituals, and ease their arrival procedures, and overcoming any obstacle that might occur.

GACA's duties start with monitoring the quality and protecting the travelers through the General Administration to follow up the performances and operations in the quality sector and the traveler experience, starting from the pilgrims’ arrival to the Hajj halls.

GACA follows up on the services provided at the airport, in addition to the grouping phase which ends with riding the campaign buses to their place of residence.

The authority also ensures the cleanliness and quality of the facilities, and monitors waiting times for each procedure point during the pilgrims’ trip, noting that it also communicates with the relevant authorities to deal with the monitored observations.

A technical team from the quality controllers are available 24 hours in the Hajj halls and it supervises the provided services within 6 phases. In the first phase, they start to evaluate the readiness of the arrival stage, and they conduct a pre-evaluation through field tours. The evaluation also covers all travel points through which pilgrims pass.

In the second phase, the team follows up on the performance and quality of services provided during the arrival season by monitoring and analyzing 16 indicators to measure waiting times and satisfaction levels of pilgrims at the travel stages.

This is in addition to sharing observations that are monitored during the field tours with the relevant authorities, to deal with and correct them.

The third phase focuses on evaluating the readiness for the pilgrims' departure stage, as the team conducts a pre-assessment through field tours to assess its readiness, as the evaluation covers all travel points through which the pilgrims pass.

In the fourth stage, the team follows up the quality of services at the departure stage by monitoring and analyzing 15 indicators to measure waiting times and satisfaction levels of pilgrims at the travel stages.

This is in addition to sharing observations that are monitored during the field tours with the relevant authorities, to deal with and correct them.

While the fifth stage is related to the issuance of the final report for the Hajj season, which reviews the most prominent challenges, lessons learned from them, and opportunities for improvement, in addition to suggestions that contribute to improving the quality of services for the coming seasons.

GACA said that in the last stage, they deal with complaints and suggestions and answer travelers’ inquiries 24 hours a day, in addition to educating them about their rights and duties.

This will be done through the communication channels of GACA's clients.

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