Aviation authorities are promising a perfect pilgrimage season. But, asks Amirah Ibrahim, are the contingency plans in place to handle the problems that always plague Saudi Arabian and Egyptian airports during hajj enough? EgyptAir has been in pilgrimage preparation mode for months. The carrier named the head of its hajj work team six months before the busy season, and the team has been engaged in putting processes into place to ensure a comfortable pilgrimage season. Last year's experience was an eye-opening mess EgyptAir was not ready to go through again. The carrier's hajj delegation head Mohsen Khalil told Al-Ahram Weekly that a committee thoroughly investigated the problems that plagued last year's hajj, and did "serious damage to the company's image". Khalil said a highly qualified team was sent to Jeddah to map out the situation so that last year's obstacles could be avoided. "The team came out with an encouraging illustration of how to manage the pilgrimage season." Last year, more than 3000 pilgrims were stranded at Jeddah Airport for three days waiting for their planes to take them back home. As more passengers rushed to the airport, and with just one, barely-functioning X-ray machine to check their luggage, the resulting delays brought the airline under serious fire by the media, passengers and travel agents alike. Some blame has been placed on the fact that EgyptAir decided to reduce its Saudi airport support team last year, in an effort to cut costs. This year, Khalil said, "we brought in 15 per cent more personnel to help with departures from Saudi airports. Over the last 10 days, more support -- in the form of 40 per cent more personnel -- will be provided to meet the extensive demand on flights from Jeddah to Cairo when most pilgrims want to get back as quickly as they can after finishing their religious rituals." The carrier also broke its contract with the Saudi agent who did not fulfill commitments to provide ground services last year, which compounded the company's woes. This year, EgyptAir will be providing four X-ray machines to check luggage, and 10 check-in counters to shorten procedure times. The departure area has also been divided in a way that should better facilitate passenger processing. "We will be able to handle passengers boarding five planes at the same time," Khalil said. One of last year's main problems had to do with the lack of order and discipline inside the pilgrims' village at Jeddah's King Abdel-Aziz Airport. "The majority of Egyptian pilgrims rushed to the airport as soon as they finished their religious rituals, in the hope of finding unoccupied seats; this caused confusion at the counters, delaying the passengers who were supposed to leave," Khalil said. This year, in cooperation with Saudi authorities, "we agreed to check passengers' papers on the road leading to the Egyptian area at the pilgrims' village. Passengers will not be allowed into the village unless they have bookings for the same day." Khalil said a delegation from the Interior Ministry would also be helping the carrier impose order, by controlling the process of sending passengers to the airport from hotels, and preventing passengers from heading to the airport before their flight times. Passengers will be provided with "a written guide to the procedures they should use, and the steps to follow on departure. Passengers will be guided and controlled through the airport by eight groups, who will receive them, accompany them through waiting areas, check-in counters, and luggage and visa gates until they board the plane." From 19 December - 4 January 2006, EgyptAir will operate 249 flights to Jeddah and Al-Madina. An estimated 257 return flights will run from 13 January - 1 February. According to EgyptAir chairman, Sherif Galal, the carrier will transfer a total of 60,000 pilgrims; 10,000 are non-Egyptian, mainly coming from Africa and Europe. "Our state-of-the-art A330 have joined the fleet to meet this massive demand," Galal said. "We have also completed procedures to lease another A300-600 to help transfer pilgrims." In an attempt to lessen potential complications, EgyptAir has suspended bookings on the Luxor and Alexandria routes to Jeddah, limiting the process to Cairo. "We have also redistributed flight schedules, reducing the number of daily flights from 26 to 18," Galal said. Initially, the carrier considered dropping a programme by which visa officers helped passengers with their paperwork on board flights heading to Cairo in order to facilitate the processing once the plane landed. Even though canceling the programme would have "saved money and allowed more seats for passengers," Galal said, "it would also have resulted in our passengers suffering crowded arrival lines." Cairo International Airport has also reorganised itself to help avoid the problems of past years. "Hall 2 -- normally allocated for domestic flights -- will be used for pilgrims departing to Jeddah," said Cairo International Airport Chairman Fathi Fathallah. "Flights to and from Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada, the primary domestic operation, will be moved to Private Planes Hall 4 for the duration of the pilgrimage season. A huge, modern tent is being constructed in front of the hall just like every year to receive pilgrims who come from every corner of the country." According to Fathallah, the airport was planning for the pilgrimage season in tandem with additional traffic coinciding with Christmas, eid, and mid-year vacations. "We have also expanded Hall 3's capacity, and are confident that holidaymakers, tourists and pilgrims will all be more comfortable" this year than they were last year, Fathallah said.
