Saudi airspace has become one of the most potentially dangerous areas to fly in the world, with the rate of near-crashes surpassing seven times the global average.
There are an average of 20 near mid-air crashes in Saudi air space each year, compared to one-three worldwide, a source from the kingdom’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) revealed to Makkah Daily on Monday in a bid to highlight calls for the government to urgently address the issue of air traffic control.
An early warning system that detects when aircraft are coming near each other has not been working for four years, the source said.
At the same time, the number of air traffic controllers had decreased while the number of flights had increased. Assistant air controllers also were still yet to be appointed despite a GACA ruling in 2009.
No additional air space in the kingdom had been allocated to commercial use in the past 20 years, despite the number of passenger and cargo flights increasing 5-7 percent each year.
Air traffic space has been a concerning issue across the GCC for years, with aviation bosses repeatedly calling on authorities to work together to alleviate the problem, which was causing congestion and safety issues.
Dubai Airports boss Paul Griffiths told Arabian Business last year it was the single biggest issues facing the industry and could soon stifle the region’s burgeoning aviation growth.
The news comes just days after Saudi Arabian airports were ranked the worst in the Middle East in an online survey.
Three Saudi airports were included in the top five worst in the region, compiled by readers of the Canadian website sleepinginairports.net.
Jeddah King Abdulaziz International Airport was the worst – also taking out second place in a global list of the worst airports to sleep in.
Dammam King Fahd International Airport and Riyadh King Khalid International Airport were ranked fourth and fifth, respectively.
Sana’a International Airport in Yemen’s capital was voted second, followed by Damascus International Airport, Syria.
By contrast, the airports rated the best in the region were Dubai International, Doha Hamad International, Abu Dhabi International, Muscat International and Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International.
Follow us on
