Abdullah Al-Rajhi, Director of the Air Transport Department at the General Administration of Civil Aviation, says about 6 million passengers, distributed among 3.1 million departures and 2.9 million arrivals are expected to use the Kuwait International Airport during the next summer season.
Al-Rajhi told Al-Qabas that the expected numbers of passenger traffic include from May to September, noting that the most prominent new destinations for the summer season are Mykonos, Athens, Budapest, Al-Jouf, Moscow, Larnaca, Belgrade, Tirana, Dushanbe, Aleppo and Taif.
The Director of the Air Transport Department at the DGCA affirmed the readiness of airport authority to deal with the movement of passengers to and from Kuwait International Airport during the summer season, pointing to the granting of approvals for airlines to operate in the season according to the volume of movement and its flow in the passenger terminals T1, T2 and T3. As all the authorities operating at the airport prepared for the season of travel and pilgrimage as well.
Regarding the expansion of the operational network of Kuwait Airport and linking it to the largest number of airports in the world, he said: This will be done by operating new sectors for Kuwait Airways, such as Mykanos, Athens, Budapest and Taif, and operating “Jazeera Airways” for the sectors of Al-Jouf, Moscow, Larnaca, Belgrade, Tirana and Dushanbe, in addition to the signing of “Kuwait Airways” Codeshare agreement with international airlines, which contributes to the diversification and expansion of the operational network.
Regarding the “civil aviation” controls to stop fraud in selling tickets through applications and websites, he said: “There are circulars in this regard, and we periodically disclose these procedures, and travelers must verify the sites authorized by us and the presence of the approval number registered on the website.”
He disclosed are inspection teams that monitor the local air transport market, to ensure compliance with the law and regulations of “civil aviation”, noting that these teams have the right to inspect workers in the market in terms of requesting issuance and renewal, to ensure compliance with the conditions.
Regarding the most prominent violations observed in the sector, he stated that the most prominent of them is that some offices licensed by the “Civil Aviation” provide offices that do not obtain the approval of the administration with their reservation systems, which exposes them to legal accountability, and they are violated according to the laws, and travelers deal with unlicensed websites. Add to this the lack of professionalism of some employees of travel and tourism offices and said the authority is in the process of resolving these issues completely.
There are complaints submitted by travelers during the summer season, related to the cancellation of their reservations from airlines under the pretext of non-approval by “civil aviation”, which is untrue, as airlines announce what is approved through their request and their suitability for air transport agreements in other countries since all requests are officially approved.
He stressed that the penalty for selling or marketing travel tickets without a license is imprisonment for no more than three months and a fine not exceeding 500 dinars, or one of the two penalties.
Al-Rajhi reaffirmed that the capacity of the airport buildings will return to what it was before the Corona pandemic, and he said: In 2019, the number of passengers reached 15.5 million passengers. As for 2022, their number reached 11.2 million passengers, which indicates that the increase in numbers will return to its usual pre-pandemic situation.
Most notable violations
— Licensed offices that provide reservation systems for unlicensed offices
— Travellers dealing with unauthorised websites
— The lack of professionalism and experience of some tourism office employees
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