Taif airport will ease pilgrim load at KAIA

April 10, 2013

Taif_airport

Taif , Apr 10: Taif airport may soon become a key disembarkation point for pilgrims coming in from the neighboring states.

The airport has seen a 250 percent jump in air traffic in 2012, according to Khalid Al-Khaibary, spokesperson and general manager of public relations at General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA).

The idea behind developing Taif as a major hub for international Haj and Umrah traffic is to ease the burden at Jeddah’s King Abdul Aziz International Airport (KAIA) during the peak seasons.

Taif airport accommodates Air Arabia, Saudia, nasair, Al-Masria, flydubai, Gulf Air, Nesma Airlines, Nile Air and Turkish Airlines. These airlines provide flights to Sharjah, Cairo, Dubai, Bahrain, Kuwait, Abha, Dammam, Riyadh and Istanbul.

Last June, Air Arabia began operating 66 flights a week from Taif to Sharjah.

Analysts are still speculating how much pilgrim traffic will pass through Taif this year, but aviation authorities are ready for the influx.

Taif airport opened in 1955 as a small domestic facility and remained under the radar until the GACA upgraded it to a regional hub.

GACA authorized a SR 8.8-million renovation of the passenger terminal and lounge, expanding it from 4,400 square meters to 5,600 square meters. The expansion allows the terminal to accommodate up to 600 passengers per hour. Passengers will pass through new customs and passport control areas. Annual passenger traffic will increase from 350,000 to 750,000, according to GACA.

The airport also has two runways with a capacity of 12,254 feet each. Although its capacity has expanded, aviation authorities have yet to establish air routes between Taif and Jeddah. It is also not connected to Madinah.

Al-Khaibary told Arab News that Taif’s airport is becoming the fastest developing airport among the Kingdom’s 23 domestic airports. He said 682,000 passengers used Taif airport in 2012 — 241,000 international and 441,000 domestic.

He noted that Taif received 1,900 international flights and 3,744 domestic flights in 2012. Al-Khaibary also said that since 2011, Taif airport has recorded significant growth in passenger traffic.

“In 2010, there was a total of 4,687 flights, then in 2011, the figure went up to 5,393 and reached 5,644 in 2012,” Al-Khaibary said.

Al-Khaibary also said that 779 international flights operated from Taif for first time in 2011 and carried 96,491 passengers. For 2012, that number skyrocketed 250 percent, with 241,000 international passengers.

“Taif airport has a 7-percent share in the total number of domestic passengers in the Kingdom,” Al-Khaibary said. “National and foreign airlines are operating 41 weekly flights to Egypt, Turkey, UAE and Kuwait.

Al-Khaibary added that GACA is negotiating with the Ministry of Haj to operate Haj charter flights to Taif.

GACA officials say they are encouraging airlines to operate more flights from Taif to other GCC countries to make it a true international hub.

Yet equally important are the efforts underway to establish specific routes from Taif to Makkah once pilgrims land at the airport. One route will lead to Makkah from Taif, Al-Shimaisi and Laith. Private cars and taxis will drop off pilgrims at the parking lot of Al-Shimaisi checkpoint, then pilgrims will take public transportation to the Grand Mosque.

Another route will take pilgrims from Al-Sail valley area in Taif via private car or taxi to Al-Sharaie residential district in Makkah. Pilgrims will then use public transportation to go to the Haram.

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Agencies
July 2,2020

With the launch of the Emirates Mars Mission less than a couple of weeks away, the spacecraft that will carry the UAE's Hope Probe to outer space has already been fuelled, it was announced today.

At a virtual briefing by the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) today, the media was informed that scientists are busy giving finishing touches to the Hope Mars Mission, which will give mankind a complete picture of the Martian atmosphere once the UAE's indigenous probe reaches the Red Planet's orbit in 2021.

As the monitoring continues, final charging of the batteries is also ongoing, scientists said.

The space engineers averred that with this mission, the momentum in the region for space awareness will continue not only among young Emiratis but also among other youngsters in the Arab world.

The Hope Probe is scheduled to take off from Japan's Tanegashima Space Centre on July 15 at 00:51:27 UAE time.

The first Arab space mission to the Red Planet remained on track despite the challenges arising from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The spacecraft will provide the first global pictures of the Martian atmosphere and data will be shared freely with over 200 research centres across the world. It will help answer key questions about the global Martian atmosphere and the loss of hydrogen and oxygen gases into space over the span of one Martian year.

450 engineers, technicians and experts are involved in the project.  This comprises of 12,000 tasks in 6 years and entails 5.5 million working hours.

It includes 200 new technologies and 15 scientific partnerships with global universities and institutions.

The spaceship will travel 495 million km. It has a cruise speed of 121,000km/hour.

MBRSC is responsible for the execution and supervision of all stages of the design, development and launch of the Hope Probe. The UAE Space Agency is funding and supervising procedures and necessary details for the implementation of this project. After its launch in mid-July and following a journey of several months, the probe is expected to enter the Red Planet's orbit in 2021, coinciding with the Golden Jubilee of the Union.

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coastaldigest.com news network
August 3,2020

Sharjah, Aug 3: A 24-year-old Indian engineer has fallen to death from the sixth floor of a residential building on Eid al-Adha in the UAE's Sharjah, a media report said on Monday. 

The electrical engineer, identified with his single name Sumesh, hailed from the south Indian state of Kerala.

He lived in a building in Al Dhaid in Sharjah, from where he fell to death on Friday, the report said, adding that he was apparently talking over the phone and threw it down minutes before the incident.

Sumesh, who came to the UAE a year ago, worked as a designer in Sharjah's Muwaileh area. His roommates said that he had some "personal issues" that had been "bothering him for some time", according to the report.

"It was Eid al-Adha and our cook had made biryani for us. We were all cracking jokes and having a good time. In fact, even Cuckoo (Sumesh) was also laughing with us. He seemed happy. Nobody had anticipated this. I did sense a few times that something was troubling him and I even asked him about it, but he brushed it off," the report quoted his roommate Dileep Kumar as saying.

Shans KF, another roommate, said Sumesh was to travel to India for his annual leave but could not because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The police have launched an investigation and moved the body to the forensic lab for an autopsy.

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Agencies
June 5,2020

Dubai, Jun 5: A new set of coronavirus guidelines for UAE hotels has been published by the National Emergency Crisis and Disasters Management Authority.

The guidelines, released late Thursday, require all employees to be tested for Covid-19 before reopening, and to be re-tested every 15 days.

Hotels are expected to provide an infrared thermometer and thermal camera, with employee temperatures to be tested several times per working day.

Any guest or employee showing coronavirus symptoms will not be permitted to enter hotel facilities, the guidelines stress.

Hotels must also leave a 24-hour gap between guests leaving a room, and the next guests arriving.

Facilities such as restaurants, cafes, gyms, swimming pools and beaches in hotels will resume operation under a minimum capacity.

Customers must have their temperatures taken before they enter.

The working hours of restaurants and cafes will be from 6am until 9pm, allowing four people to sit at the same table with 2.5 metres left between tables. Menus must be sterilised after each use.

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