Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has decided to increase technical human resource at Jeddah airport to assist its local staff in an effort to ensure punctuality of PIA flights' landings and takeoffs, being the core requirement of Saudi authorities, or else lose airport facilities during 2012 Hajj operations.
The move comes following the communication received by the national carrier in which Saudi authorities had informed making the provision of airport facilities to PIA during Hajj Operation 2012 conditional with its performance, particularly during the pre- and post-Ramazan Umrah season.
Sources told Business Recorder that airline personnel are being sent to Jeddah in the first phase to reduce flight delays by the time the airline operations are in full swing during Ramadan and Hajj, besides improving the turnaround time for PIA flights.
Saudi authorities had informed that "If PIA fails to carry out smooth Umrah operation, it won't be able to get many important airport facilities at Jeddah airport" which means an increase in the sufferings to Hujjaj this year.
Sources said that lately a meeting was held between the Jeddah airport authorities and PIA representatives in which it was made clear that PIA's acquiring of airport facilities for the forthcoming Hajj operation will be endorsed by the Saudi Authorities only after PIA's satisfactory performance during Umrah operation.
According to sources, this is going to wreak havoc on the national airline as more than 70 percent of PIA's flights to Saudi Arabia suffered delays during the last couple of months.
The new management taking stock of the situation has constituted teams to look after technical matters. It is also looking after the airline's passenger services staff and local ground handling agents' efforts in minimising the turnaround time for PIA aircraft operating to and from the kingdom with special emphasis on Jeddah during the upcoming Umrah and later Hajj operations.
Earlier, PIA was reprimanded by British aviation authorities over delays and lax safety. And this time, the national airline has been given a final warning by Saudi civil aviation authorities.
Sources said that Saudis have been pointing out since long that frequent arrival and departure delays in PIA flights disturb schedules of other airlines at busy airports of Jeddah and Riyadh.
Since the start of this year till the end of March almost 400 flights to/from Jeddah got delayed out of more than 500 flights. During the same period, around 50 flights to and from Madinah also got delayed out of about 60 flights.
Earlier King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA) Jeddah had issued warning to PIA and they had refused to operate PIA flights on the conditions set by PIA. It was reported that the delayed operations of 32 flights out of 40 flights scheduled to Jeddah in just 20 days of February (from 1st to 20th) by PIA had resulted in stern action by KAIA authorities against the incessant inefficiency of PIA authorities.
Airports in Saudi Arabia are the ones that are most lucrative for PIA's business, but the national carrier's indifferent attitude towards these stations is un-understandable. Not only was PIA fined heavily last year during Hajj operations for continuous delays but also its flights were diverted from main Jeddah Airport to another nearby locations, which caused hardships to the pilgrims.