Riyadh ‘grounds’ passport checks at boarding gates

RIYADH: King Khaled International Airport (KKIA) announced here on Wednesday that officials would no longer check passports at boarding gates to save time and money. This includes all passengers departing on international flights, an official, who did not want to be named, told Arab News on Wednesday. This would save the airport SR600 million annually and allow it to schedule more flights, he said. However, air carriers or their agents would follow the current procedure when passengers check in. The new changes at KKIA are part of efforts to streamline procedures, the official said. He said the old system of checking passports required an estimated 15,000 hours for processing about 5.2 million international passengers this year. Under the new system, there is likely to be a saving of 8,400 hours for all international flights in 2016. The official estimated the value of the new move at more than SR600 million and that it would allow the airport to schedule an extra 5,600 international flights a year, to meet the growing demand in Riyadh. KKIA has seen a 1.3 million increase in passengers, up to 20.4 million passengers, over the 11 months of this year compared to the same period last year. There would likely be 22.4 million passengers recorded for the entire 2015, an increase of 1.6 million from 2014, the airport has estimated. -arabnews