Congestion at Jeddah Airport: PIA operating extra flights to bring back Umrah passengers

A massive number of passengers' returning after Umrah resulted in heavy congestion at the terminal building of Jeddah Airport as it could not cater to such heavy rush, PIA spokesman said, here on Tuesday. He said PIA flight schedule had to be modified to suit the convenience of Jeddah Airport Administration.
The airline operation followed Jeddah Civil Aviation Authority's guidelines and directions for sending PIA aircraft to Jeddah Airport for bringing the Umrah passengers back home as the aircraft parking bays were overcrowded by international airlines of other Muslim countries.
At King Abdulaziz International Airport -Jeddah, after September 6, the situation became worse as the conveyor belt, which carries the passengers' baggage, broke down and is still out of order. The baggage had to be manually security-checked and loaded on the aircraft, which was both time consuming and labour intensive.
After 27th Ramadan until Eid Holidays, only the skeleton staff of airport authorities was available for facilitating departure of some three million Umrah passengers belonging to Pakistan, Turkey, African Countries, Central Asia, India, Bangladesh and Indonesia. All airlines from Turkey, Middle East and South Asia faced unprecedented delays, which were beyond the control of any airline.
During this whole time, senior officials of PIA Passenger Handling Department remained in touch with KAIA - Jeddah officials, and succeeded in availing special support for PIA passengers' check-in, mobile security clearance and other formalities outside the main terminal building, aimed at ensuring quick boarding of the passengers.
Now, it is expected that by Thursday September 16, 2010, PIA fight departures from Jeddah may become normal. Since September 6, PIA has been bringing back nearly 3,500 to 4,000 passengers on daily basis besides regular scheduled flights from Jeddah to different cities of Pakistan. PIA also operated 38 extra flights to bring back Umrah passengers, the spokesman concluded.-PR