To prevent overcrowding at King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA), the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) has urged all Umrah visa holders, who had overstayed for Haj, to complete their travel procedures at the Pilgrims City and not the Northern Terminals allocated for foreign airlines. A tour of the Northern Terminals by Okaz/Saudi Gazette at the weekend showed no overcrowding. There was also a smooth flow of planes landing and leaving. The Northern Terminals were allocated for ordinary and emergency flights only while GACA barred ordinary passengers from traveling on flights allocated for pilgrims. Companies were asked to inform passengers to change their reservations if they were booked on flights for pilgrims. GACA has also announced that it has fined several foreign airlines for not abiding by their schedule of transporting pilgrims to their countries. According to sources, GACA said that all 58 airlines operating from the airport must stick to rules and regulations regarding flight timings. If there is a delay of six hours, then companies must provide passengers with meals. If the delay is for more than six hours, then the airline must find alternative flights for the passengers and complete travel procedures for them at its expense. More than 150 scheduled flights carrying 30,000 pilgrims have so far departed from the Haj and Umrah terminals of KAIA in Jeddah for various destinations. The airport management is scheduled to operate the same number of flights daily until Muharram 15, 1433H – the last day for pilgrims to leave Saudi Arabia. It is expected that 1.3 million pilgrims will leave via KAIA during this period. Sources told Okaz/Saudi Gazette that the authorities responsible for grouping pilgrims are to blame for the massive piles of luggage in front of the departure terminals. The officials transport passengers to the departure terminals over 48 hours before their flights. This is a clear violation of government arrangements. __
