The total number of complaints lodged by tourists against Saudi Arabia’s airports and airlines in May of 2024 was disclosed by the Kingdom’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA).
Approximately 1318 tourists lodged complaints against the companies. Saudi Airlines had the fewest complaints, according to the “Civil Aviation” ranking, with 10 complaints for every 100,000 passengers and a 95% treatment rate for complaints received in May.
Flynas had 13 complaints per 100,000 travellers and a 100% resolution rate, compared to Flyadeal’s 11 complaints per 100,000 passengers and a 99% resolution rate.
The framework for travel services related to tickets and flights for passengers was one of the issues, according to GACA.
In the index of international airports with more than 6 million passengers per year, King Fahd International Airport in Dammam received the fewest complaints from the authority, with 0.3% per 100,000 passengers.
At 0.4% per 100,000 passengers, Prince Sultan International Airport has the fewest complaints among the international airports that handle fewer than 6 million passengers annually.
At 2% per 100,000 passengers, Najran Airport had the fewest complaints recorded by the authority within the domestic airport index.
According to GACA, the purpose of the monthly report on the ranking of airport service providers in terms of complaints is to inform travellers about how well airports and air transport service providers handle customer complaints, improve transparency, and demonstrate the legitimacy of the authority.
The authority created a pamphlet that outlines the standards of service that must be followed for all complaints and questions, as well as guidelines for handling passenger complaints in airports. Additionally, it provided training on executive regulations to safeguard customer rights for workers of national airlines and ground service providers.
Talking about the vital statistics involving Saudi Arabia’s aviation sector, it has contributed USD 20.8 billion to the Kingdom’s GDP, reflecting the key role it plays in the Arab world’s biggest economy, another report from GACA has shown.
The report titled “State of Aviation Report” found out that the industry’s strength has branched out to other key areas of the Saudi economy, with aviation-related activities responsible for a further USD 32.2 billion in tourism receipts.
The aviation sector alone has enabled 241,000 jobs and has contributed to supporting a further 717,000 jobs in the tourism-related areas, the GACA report commented further, while noting that the sector ended up outperforming its global counterparts in 2023, achieving 123% of international pre-COVID seat capacity compared to the global and regional average recovery rate of 90% and 95%, respectively. 2023’s growth amounted to 26% as total passenger volumes reached 111.7 million.