Officials from Saudi Arabian Airlines (SAA) have blamed the General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA) for the poor organization and breakdown of systems at the Jeddah airport that has recently caused widespread chaos and lengthy delays of flights for Umrah pilgrims and visitors. They said that GACA, which is responsible for infrastructure at King Abdul Aziz International Airport, has projected a poor image of the country's aviation sector. They said urgent intervention is needed to prevent a “complete collapse” of systems for passengers, including luggage transportation, security and issuing of air tickets. They said if the systems fail then all air traffic at the airport could come to a standstill. The officials also raised concerns about cargo, reservations, air-conditioning at the terminals and employees' offices, cleaning, plane parking and sound systems for announcing the arrival and departure of flights. In response, Khaled Al-Khabiri, GACA's Spokesman, said he needed more time to reply to the allegations. Okaz/Saudi Gazette met recently with the disgruntled group of leading SAA officials, who have been stationed at the terminals since Sept. 2. The officials said nearly 240 international and local flights are affected or disrupted on a daily basis. They accused GACA of not responding to their demands to provide the necessary mechanisms and machinery and the suitable infrastructure to operate the airport effectively. They drew attention to the poor conveyor belt system for carrying luggage from inside the terminals to the security zones. They claimed that the authority imported these machines from an Asian country because of the low cost, without any quality considerations. The conveyor machines have weak internal generators, they claimed. They said the conveyor belts break down so often that SAA has to provide 45 workers to intervene in case of any sudden breakdown, which happens on a daily basis. They said these machines cannot be maintained properly because spare parts are difficult to find and takes weeks to source from overseas. They said the security machines at the airport, the metal detectors, work slowly and imprecisely because they are based on old technology. They said these machines result in officials inspecting nine out of 10 items, causing further delays. Other world class airports have sophisticated machinery, they said. They said about 100 passengers miss their flights on a daily basis because of the poor security system, resulting in great financial losses that have to be borne by GACA. – Okaz/SGPASSENGERS' PLIGHTn Regular breakdown of conveyer belt n Poor air-conditioining at the terminals n Security check system not proper n Unclean lounges and toilets n Mismanagement in tackling rushFALLOUT... n Passengers missing their flights n Late departure of flights n Chaos, confusion at the airport __
