The international airports in Jeddah and Madina are gearing up for an influx and outflow of hundreds of thousands of Umrah pilgrims and vacationers as Ramadan comes to an end and Eid celebrations begin. A total of 150 flights have been scheduled for those pilgrims leaving from Madina's Prince Muhammad Bin Abdul Aziz International Airport. The first flight leaves Monday, according to Engineer Abdul Fattah Muhammad Ata, the airport's director. There will be 32 taking off on the first and second days of Eid. The flights will continue until the 10th of Shawwal. The airport has this season received 2,550 flights carrying 600,000 visitors from around the world. A total of 220,000 left through the airport, Ata added. There are 7,000 airport employees, including those from different government agencies, working at the airport in technical and administrative capacities. Nine hundred officers and privates of the Madina Traffic Police continue to work around-the-clock organizing an estimated 6,000 cars and buses on roads leading to the Haram on the night the recitation of the holy Qur'an is completed. Meanwhile, preparations are underway for pilgrims leaving Jeddah. The first of the scheduled 2,568 flights leave Monday and will continue until 15th of Shawwal, according to Essam Fuwad, the Director of Saudi Airlines in Jeddah. He said there are 2,168 Umrah flights. Fuwad said preparations for the departure of pilgrims are being carried out at the Pilgrims City close to the airport. There has been a rescheduling of the working hours of ground services employees. He added that an emergency plan was prepared in case problems occur. Airport employees were directed to deal with any problems encountered by travelers, including delays. There has been coordination with contracted hotels to host passengers in case flights are cancelled for bad weather, or delayed for more than six hours.
