JEDDAH: The holy month of Ramadan will witness the arrival of around 20,000 Umrah pilgrims daily, Khaled Al-Harbi, director of Haj and Umrah Affairs at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, has said.
“The expected number of pilgrims during Ramadan will be around 500,000, with 99 percent accuracy in flight schedules,” he was quoted by local media as saying.
According to Al-Harbi, the number of pilgrims arriving at the lounges of the airport since the beginning of the Haj and Umrah season until Thursday was 2.345 million in 13,680 flights, while those who left stood at 2.827 million in 14,562 flights.
Al-Harbi said the airport administration and the other bodies including the Passports Directorate, Ministry of Haj, Investigation Department and Saudi Customs are all ready to receive the pilgrims. "The procedure to handle the arrival arrangements of pilgrims will only take about 45 minutes instead of the previous three hours.
“The procedures start with the health ministry staff giving instructions and providing services to the pilgrims. Then the person heads to the passport area, baggage, customs department and to the unified Umrah service provider,” he said.
The total area of the Haj and Umrah lounges’ complex at King Abdulaziz Airport is 510,000 square meters. It includes the eastern pilgrims building with a space of 90,000 square meters and an open area (plaza) of 160,000 square meters, as well as area for parking of 26 aircraft with 10 mobile bridges and two operation centers, an observation tower and 18 travel portals.
The modern lounges accommodate more than 91,000 Haj and Umrah pilgrims and the departure of 84,000 passengers, 312 flights a day at a rate of 13 flights per hour.
KAIA to handle 20,000 pilgrims daily
