Operating and command rooms at the Kingdom's international airports to serve citizens returning from abroad

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11 may, 2020
 
 
The Kingdom's international airports (King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, and King Fahd International Airport in Dammam) provided joint operations rooms in cooperation with the relevant government agencies to serve, facilitate and receive citizens returning home from abroad. The aim is to assure their safety and work to secure their return, all within the health and preventive measures against the novel Coronavirus. All health and preventive measures were taken during the procedures and stages that passengers are subject to from their arrival at international airports of the Kingdom until they board the buses designated for them.
 
These measures come in implementing the directives of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense (May God protect them both). Efforts to repatriate citizens who wish to return to their homeland are given the highest priority for the safety of the citizens and to work for their safe return.
 
The Operations Room at the Kingdom's airports, in cooperation with the concerned authorities, follow-up those citizens arriving from international destinations starting by managing their movements in the airport lounges, and following their disembarking from the planes in a controlled manner to ensure that there is no congestion and passengers spread within the terminals, all while maintaining social distancing. This in addition to supervising and control of the luggage while quickly removed from the plane to ensure that passengers do not wait for a long time to receive their luggage and at the passenger traffic gate, and through medical check-up area, ending with luggage reception.
 
The goal of providing operation rooms is to ensure the application of health and preventive measures and to monitor the implementation the stages that passengers go through from the moment of their arrival, until they’re transported their place of residence via designated buses. The operation rooms tasks also include managing the movements of citizens arriving at the terminals, and monitoring as the passengers disembark from the plane in a manner that ensures no congestion, all while observing social distancing. Meanwhile, efforts are made to monitor the process of unloading baggage from the plane to ensure that there are no delays. This in addition to supervising medical examinations and receiving the passengers luggage. Furthermore, the operation room include (Communications and Operations Unit, Data and Information unit, General Supervision Unit).
 
It is worth noting, that the Kingdom's international airports in each of (King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, and King Fahd International Airport in Dammam) have implemented many measures to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus during flights designated for repatriation of citizens. This include (12) stages that are applied from the arrival of citizens who wish to return at their country of departure until their arrival at the kingdom’s airport.
 
The stages that the citizens go through at the moment of their arrival at the airport, which include a medical examination of the passengers at the airport of the country of departure, before they board the plane in which care is taken to ensure that there are adequate spaces between passengers, and when the flight arrives at the airport, the passengers get off the plane in a controlled manner to ensure that there is no congestion, all while maintaining social distancing. Priority is then given to dropping the luggage from the plane to ensure that the passengers do not wait for a long time in the luggage reception area. The general authority of civil aviation (GACA) has also provided a sterilization area through which sterilizers and masks are provided at the passengers bridges and luggage gates. All passengers are then instructed to sterilize their hands and wear masks in the proper way until the completion of all procedures.
 
The Ministry of Health has allocated a check-up points through which all arriving passengers go through the mandatory thermal camera area to make sure the safety of all travelers and aircraft crews who will undergo a preliminary medical examination by a specialized medical team and determine whether any passenger need for advanced medical isolation. Upon suspicion of a positive case between passengers, the passenger is then isolated away from the rest of the passengers, while a safe path is then activated to transfer the case. Passengers are required to sterilize the hands before starting the passport procedures and entry in the fingerprint area. The passport control area procedures are cleared without changing any of the procedures while maintaining a safe social distancing between the passengers. while Customs Inspection area hand luggage inspection goes on without change. All this procedures is followed while maintaining a safe social distance between passengers. In the event of a secondary inspection of luggage, a distance of (1.5 m) is maintained between the customs officer and the passenger.
 
Ground services provide assistance to passengers in the baggage handling area without changing the procedures followed. Furthermore, passengers passing through the final inspection gate in the customs inspection area is without change in the procedures followed while maintaining a safe distance between the passengers. Meanwhile, passengers are sorted during the last step upon exit by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Tourism on paths according to their destinations.