Coronavirus: Steps repatriated Saudis go through at Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam airports
The General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) in cooperation with the Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia took several preventative health measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus and put in place certain steps travelers must take during their repatriation flights to the Kingdom.
The 12 steps span the time from their arrival at the Kingdom's international airports (King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, King Abdul Aziz International Airport in Jeddah, and King Fahd International Airport in Dammam) and until they board buses assigned to them.
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A medical examination of passengers at the airport of the country of departure is carried out in the first step, before they board the plane in which the seating arrangements take social distancing into account to ensure that there are enough spaces between the passengers.
Upon arriving at the Kingdom’s airports, passengers get off the plane in a controlled way to maintain a safe distance between the passengers. Furthermore, priority is given to processing their luggage off the plane to ensure that passengers do not wait for a long time in the baggage claim area.
GACA has also provided a sterilization area through which sterilizers and masks are provided to passengers at the gates, while ensuring that all passengers are properly sanitizing their hands and wearing masks in the correct manner until all procedures are completed.
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The Ministry of Health has allocated a checkpoint through which all arriving passengers pass through mandatory thermal cameras scanning. All passengers and flight crew are subjected to a preliminary medical examination by a specialized medical team to determine if any passengers need medical isolation.
If there is a suspected infected individual between passengers, the individual is isolated from the rest of the passengers and a safe path is activated to transfer the case.
Passengers are required to sterilize their hands before entry into the passport control and fingerprinting checkpoint. The passport procedures are cleared while maintaining a safe distance between the passengers, while in the customs inspection area, the hand luggage will be inspected with a safe distance between all passengers.
In the event of a secondary inspection of the luggage, a distance of at least 1.5 meters is kept between the customs officer and the passenger.
Passengers passing through the final gate in the customs inspection area will go through without any changes in the regular procedures, while maintaining a safe distance between each other.
While exiting, passengers will be sorted according to their destinations. Passengers will be guided to place their luggage in the luggage cart and board the buses assigned to them from the transport fleet.
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