Mansour Al-Hashemi, Director of Operations Department at the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation, revealed the Hajj pilgrims began departing Kuwait and about 1,000 left for Makkah yesterday morning on board four lights — the Kuwaiti Airways and Saudi Airlines.
Al-Hashemi said in a press statement on the sidelines of the departure of the pilgrims, that the DGCA operations aim to overcome all obstacles facing the pilgrims by allocating special counters to facilitate their travel in coordination with the Hajj campaigns, reports Al-Rai daily.
He explained the Operations Department is coordinating in advance with the Ministry of the Interior to increase the number of passport counters and also coordinating with the General Administration of Customs to set up a complete mechanism that facilitates the entry and exit of travelers, and also wants ground service providers to raise quality control performance and provide the best services to passengers.
He pointed out that the Operations Department has formed field teams that resemble a beehive working around the clock, integrating shifts of workers to assist and facilitate the departure and arrival of travelers, especially since the Hajj season coincides with the blessed Eid Al-Adha holiday.
He added that the number of passengers (departure and arrival) during the Eid al-Adha is about 280,000, during 6 days from June 27 to July 2 of this year, on board 2116 aircraft, indicating that the majority of the destination for passengers leaving the country will be to Dubai, Turkey, Egypt, Riyadh, Jeddah and London.
He pointed out that coordination has been made with the Ministry of Interior to set security barriers in front of airports to ensure smooth flow of passengers.
