03 July 2016
RIYADH: Saudi Airlines official blamed a luggage carousel failure at terminals 2 and 3 at King Khalid International Airport (KKIA) in Riyadh as the main reason for the chaos that caused the accumulation of 70,000 pieces of baggage on Thursday and Friday.
According to a Saudia spokesman, Said Abdulrahman Al-Fahad, Terminal 2 saw the worst of the situations where international and domestic flights took off without the baggage of some passengers. He said the airline's ground services worked at full capacity and ordered its staff to deliver baggage manually, which delayed many flights.
In a previous statement, the KKIA management said the main reason behind the chaos was the additional flights by a number of airlines without the approval of the management, which caused delays, leading to congestion in passenger baggage.
Similarly, in Jeddah's King Abdul Aziz International Airport, the northern lounge witnessed on Friday morning unprecedented crowding in the waiting area because of increased flights at this time of year. It left many a passenger standing in long queues in front of check-in and baggage counters grumbling and complaining due to delays.
The northern lounge receives passengers flying to and coming from Morocco, Cairo, Pakistan, Turkey and Bahrain. Just before imsak (end of suhoor), the lounge was overcrowded with passengers randomly having meals in the corridors.
Some officials said that the airport is witnessing a very high operating density because of the Umrah season coinciding with the summer vacation.
They said currently the airport is operating at double its capacity, causing huge pressure on its facilities. They demanded a radical solution to fix the problems.
RIYADH: Saudi Airlines official blamed a luggage carousel failure at terminals 2 and 3 at King Khalid International Airport (KKIA) in Riyadh as the main reason for the chaos that caused the accumulation of 70,000 pieces of baggage on Thursday and Friday.
According to a Saudia spokesman, Said Abdulrahman Al-Fahad, Terminal 2 saw the worst of the situations where international and domestic flights took off without the baggage of some passengers. He said the airline's ground services worked at full capacity and ordered its staff to deliver baggage manually, which delayed many flights.
In a previous statement, the KKIA management said the main reason behind the chaos was the additional flights by a number of airlines without the approval of the management, which caused delays, leading to congestion in passenger baggage.
Similarly, in Jeddah's King Abdul Aziz International Airport, the northern lounge witnessed on Friday morning unprecedented crowding in the waiting area because of increased flights at this time of year. It left many a passenger standing in long queues in front of check-in and baggage counters grumbling and complaining due to delays.
The northern lounge receives passengers flying to and coming from Morocco, Cairo, Pakistan, Turkey and Bahrain. Just before imsak (end of suhoor), the lounge was overcrowded with passengers randomly having meals in the corridors.
Some officials said that the airport is witnessing a very high operating density because of the Umrah season coinciding with the summer vacation.
They said currently the airport is operating at double its capacity, causing huge pressure on its facilities. They demanded a radical solution to fix the problems.
© Arab News 2016
