Effective September 26, Al-Gurayat Airport will be closed for three months for maintenance, said Sulaiman Bin Rabah Al-Thubaiti, the regional airport's director. Scheduled flights will be diverted to Turaif Airport, which is 150 kilometers away from Al-Gurayyat, said Al-Thubaiti, who added that the temporary closure is part of the plan for maintaining the airport's 3,050-meter runway and its entrance. All companies with operations at the airport have been notified about the closure and representatives of Saudi Arabian Airlines and the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) have discussed a plan to shift air traffic to Turaif. An official source told Okaz/Saudi Gazette that GACA asked Saudia to increase flights to Turaif at a time when it has rejected transporting passengers to and from Al-Gurayat while the airport is closed. The airline's representative has met with his counterparts at land transportation companies and discussed the possibility of transporting passengers between the two airports, in coordination with its flight schedules, according to the source. Saudia has increased the number of flights from Turaif to provide a weekly capacity of 1,606 seats, up from 660, the source said. Representatives of the GACA have expressed concerns about Saudia's proposal to only operate four flights from Turaif Airport to replace 16 scheduled flights from Al-Gurayyat, without consideration for the peak seasons. Air travelers in Al-Gurayat stressed that free ground transportation should be provided between Al-Gurayat and Turaif. Additional sites for getting boarding passes should be established, they added, because the service is only available at the airport and Saudia offices in the governorate.
