JEDDAH, 1 February 2005 — The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) yesterday denied an Al-Jazeera television report about French pilgrims going berserk at King Abdul Aziz International Airport here, but admitted they damaged some computers.

Addressing a press conference here yesterday, Sami Magboul, director general of the airport, blamed the airport chaos on the Egyptian firm AMC and added that CAA was in no way responsible for the delay in flying the French pilgrims back home.

According to a press release issued by the authority, AMC had an agreement with Attar Travel Agency to transport European pilgrims back to their home countries in a specified timeframe. However, due to some contractual problems between the two companies, the pilgrims were stranded at the airport. A special committee was formed to look into the problems and special flights were arranged for the pilgrims.

“Of the 1,784 European pilgrims whose departure was delayed, only 250 remain at the airport as of now,” said Magboul.

The statement emphasized the authority’s efforts to facilitate the return journey of pilgrims. Airlines transporting pilgrims have to present bank guarantees to ensure flawless service. Airlines which fail to meet the deadline would be fined SR200,000. So far three have been fined. Magboul said the erring firms would be asked to pay compensation for the damage caused to the airport.

Talal Kabli, general manager of the Air Transport Department, said it was not possible to accommodate the European pilgrims on alternative planes because European airports only receive planes with specific features, so any airplane would not do. This contributed to the delay.