Mohammed Al-Abdullah Okaz/Saudi Gazette DAMMAM — Land and air traffic movement across the Kingdom has intensified with the return of the government and private sector employees to work after the Eid Al-Fitr holidays. The return of the employees after the 12-day Eid break has aggravated the already acute booking crisis for airline companies and has caused traffic congestion on all inter-city roads. The management of King Fahd International Airport had asked all airline companies operating to the airport to increase the frequency of domestic flights to enable departing passengers to arrive on time to resume work on Wednesday. Ahmed Al-Abbasi, director of public relations at the airport, said an integrated plan has been formulated with the board of the operating airlines, which consists of 36 international and domestic companies to reschedule their flights. He said during the first half of this year, about 5 million passengers have arrived at or departed from the airport, which is an increase of 1 million passengers over the same period last year. "Ramadan has witnessed a remarkable increase in domestic flights to and from Jeddah and Madinah," he added. Abbasi said the airport will soon sign a contract with a US company to construct a special building to the north of the royal terminal for private aviation. He said the building will be ready within 24 months and will consist of an airfield that can accommodate tens of aircraft of various sizes. He said the airport will also sign eight investment agreements during the next six months to establish restaurants, coffee shops and confectioneries inside the passenger halls. Abbasi said the management will sign more agreements next year for the construction of a gas station, a five-star hotel, a car park and other projects within plans to further develop the airport. Meanwhile, King Abdullah Airport in Jazan witnessed an overcrowding of passengers who could not find seats to travel back to their work stations after spending the Eid holidays with their families and friends in southern Saudi Arabia. Employees of the Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) have called for increasing the number of flights to the region to meet the rising demand. Prince Naif Bin Abdul Aziz Airport in Qassim was also the scene of large crowds of passengers who were also keen not to be absent on the first day of work after the holidays. An airport official, who opted not to be identified, expected this summer to witness the highest number of passengers in the airport's history. "There is more demand for domestic flights, especially to Jeddah. We have arranged additional flights to serve our clients," he said.
