Mohammed Ahmed 

Al-Hassani

Okaz

 

The airport in Jeddah was once the major hub in the Arab Gulf region before Bahrain airport offered it a tough competition. Jeddah was the meeting point between Asia and Africa via a number of international air companies. However, the leading position of its airport did not last long.

 

Over the past two decades Dubai airport has surfaced and was able to consume most of the passengers from the Saudi and the Bahraini airports at the same time.

 

In 2014, the annual number of international travelers from Dubai’s airport was about 70 million. The authorities are expecting this number to jump to 80 million in 2015. Dubai has, thus, become an aggressive competitor for all international flights.

 

The surprising thing is that there are no domestic flights in the United Arab Emirates. The distances between its various emirates take no longer than minutes to cover by car.

 

This economic thinking has prompted Dubai to move toward an aviation industry that would give it an international name and turn this small emirate into an international center for trade, travel and tourism.

 

Dubai had planned and vigorously executed. Its airport has usurped almost all the travel quotas of the neighboring airports. It has become the favorite transit point for travelers between the five continents of the world.

 

Emirates Airlines has become an international airway competing with big companies in Britain, France, Germany, Holland, Spain and America.

It has a modern fleet composed of new aircraft, of which some have a capacity for 800 passengers. To make passengers more comfortable, the airlines reduced the seats in these giant aircraft to 700 or 600.

 

Our airliners, of which we were very proud and which were occupying first place in the region four decades ago, have deteriorated, giving the leading position to other airlines in neighboring countries.

 

Why have we delayed the development of our main airports all these years though we have domestic stations that could serve this spacious country?

What could our beloved airlines have done had it not been for the large number of Haj and Umrah pilgrims?

 

We hope that the new airport in Jeddah will enable the city to assume its leading position in the world of aviation.