Complaints & Suggestions
Laws & RegulationsGACA holds workshop to improve pilgrims’ air transportation
Pilgrims for the 2017 Haj season will commence flying into the Kingdom as of the 24th of July, the General Authority of Civil Aviation announced lately.
Flights will continue through August 25th.
The Authority’s announcement came after it had held a workshop under the banner “Improving and Enhancing Air Transportation of Pilgrims” at the Jeddah Hilton, with representatives from many government agencies and private corporations attending, at the forefront of which were the Emirships of Makkah and Madina, the Ministry of Haj and Umra, the Makkah Development Commission, the Passport Department, Prince Mohammad Bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Madina, King Abdulaziz Airport in Jeddah, Saudia Airlines, Saudi Ground Services, and representatives from all air transport operators in the Kingdom.
Topics covered at the workshop included timeslot requests from ACA, an Australian company that coordinates airport timeslots; feedback from airport administrations, operators, and ground service providers; and feedback from national carriers, all of which helps the Authority to enforce technical safety requirements on all air carriers involved with the transportation of pilgrims. The Authority audits all carriers to ensure their strict and complete adherence to regulations and their incident-free track records throughout their involvement with the transportation of pilgrims over the past 20 years.
The Authority is fully committed to achieving the objectives of the National Transformation Program for the year 2020, when it is expected that 2.5 million pilgrims will visit the Kingdom. It is also committed to the Kingdom’s 2030 Vision, the year when the number of pilgrims is expected to hit four million – numbers that require technical, infrastructure, and manpower preparation and readiness across all sectors and departments. In the interim, the numbers of Umra pilgrims are set to increase steadily, eventually reaching 30 million by 2030, which necessitates year-long Umra seasons.
The Authority had begun receiving operators’ applications for permission to fly in pilgrims last year. Of the 61 operators that applied, 58 were granted licenses after they had fulfilled their requirements. These operators had already flown 1,246,660 pilgrims from 169 countries.
Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz Airport bore the brunt of the volume of pilgrims who flew into the Kingdom in 2016, with traffic amounting to 694,171 pilgrims. Another 551,170 pilgrims flew into Prince Mohammad International Airport in Madina last year.
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