A computer crash delayed 12 flights for over three hours at King Abdul Aziz International Airport (KAIA) here Wednesday. Airport sources said a technical glitch stopped the conveyor belts and also caused the computer network to crash. They said staff shortage was at the root of the problem. Every shift should ideally have 55 to 60 employees for smooth operation, one source said, but presently each shift is understaffed. A shift is defined as an 8-hour stint of work and there are three shifts everyday. Everyday a minimum of 165 employees is needed. “It's no surprise that they cannot keep up with the 25,000 passengers flying everyday for the summer vacation,” the source said. This is not the first time that technical glitches which have left passengers stranded for hours at the airport. Last month, renovation work caused similar delays when conveyor belts stopped, leading to flight delays. In October 2007, when renovation work was at its peak and the passenger area was temporarily reduced, there were deaths of passengers, including a pregnant woman, reportedly because of the congestion. When KAIA airport opened in 1981 it was designed to handle close to 9 million passengers annually. Now, 15 million passengers use the airport annually. Last Tuesday, French company Airport de Paris Ingenierie (ADPI) was contracted to improve KAIA. The contract, for a 14-month duration and valued at SR514.9 million ($137 million) will increase KAIA's capacity to 30 million passengers annually. The first stage of the contract includes designing a railway station complex adjacent to the passenger terminals and multistory car parks. __
