Remarks about QAIA

The relatively new Queen Alia International Airport (QAIA) is a great project. Most of little snags that caught the critics’ eyes at the beginning have been adequately dealt with. By any standards it is a modern facility that the country needed and indeed deserved.

For the last three decades, Jordan has been a major hub for international and regional movement, not just an attractive place for tourists and holiday seekers from all over the world.

When lines of communication with neighbouring countries are severed or largely interrupted, either for security considerations when trouble there prevails r due to international sanctions once imposed by UN bodies, Jordan becomes the transit point.

All traffic to Iraq from 1990 onwards went through Jordan, either via QAIA or through the port of Aqaba on the Red Sea.

While the region is passing through very difficult times at this particular point, Jordan remains safe and secure; hence a safe gate of entry for venturing around, or a convenient vantage point for monitoring all kinds of alarming developments.

The new airport therefore is just what the country needed. The new highway linking the airport with the city is also great. Let us hope a regular, efficient, time-saving and inexpensive transport system between the airport and town will be available soon for travellers.

The varied benefits of such comprehensive projects are enormous, and they also create jobs.

Without undermining the managerial competence, there are, however, few minor problems that need immediate attention. I want to make some observations.

I was last at the airport (of course I was there many times before, meeting or travelling) last Saturday to meet private visitors, therefore in the arrival hall.

Curiosity and spare time tempted me to walk around. Everything looked neat and clean, the place was quiet, the waiting crowd was orderly, facilities were all elegantly placed and all guiding signs were clear.

I walked all the way to the end of the hall to the prayer place. It was also spacious and well planned. There is a sign that rightly prohibits taking food in or allowing people to sleep in a place designated for worship.

So far so good.

What was not that good, however, was that inside the prayer place, by the entrance, there were at least five pieces of luggage, not hand luggage, and many slippers around the floor scattered in a very disturbing manner.

Inside the prayer place there was only one man sitting and reading. I could not imagine that all that luggage and the six pairs of slippers belonged to that lone praying visitor. 

Obviously some visitors to the prayer place might have luggage with them and they cannot leave it unattended, as that is against security regulations. But if luggage is to be allowed in, there should be space allocated for it.

Most importantly, there must be regulations, security precautions in particular, to ensure that any luggage should be screened beforehand and not be abandoned there.

It is also known that people have to take their shoes off before entering mosques or prayer places. That requires marked shelves for mosque visitors to place their shoes neatly on. 

I could still not explain the slippers, unless they are meant for general use, which is not hygienic, to say the least.

In any case, the prayer place must be better kept. The ideal situation is to have an attendant in charge to properly look after it.

The other observation relates to the parking area. When I first noted the chaos there in the first weeks after the inauguration, back in the spring of 2013, I thought it was too early to pass any premature judgment. But the situation remains almost the same now.

Although the parking area is spacious, people continue to park in the driveways instead of the allocated parking places.

They drive in the wrong direction and they sometimes stop in the middle of the driveway to load luggage, blocking other drivers and causing traffic obstruction.

This happens all the time without any regulation enforcement mechanism.

Admittedly, the people, not the airport administration, perform such unruly behaviour, but there must be some kind of law-enforcement procedure to prevent such violations. 

Not once in my frequent visits to the airport did I note the presence of any such monitoring personnel.

Another problem with the “arrivals” parking is the exit.

There are delays most of the time. Last Saturday, the lane I took was blocked because there was a problem with the car in front. At some point the man in the booth left it and asked all of us to reverse and take another lane, but that was practically impossible. He returned to his booth and he finally managed to solve the problem, but after much unnecessary, and evidently costly, delay.

Parking rates have been steadily increasing from JD1 per hour at the beginning to JD1.50 later and JD1.75 now. Any undue delay at the exit, even one minute, could cost a delayed motorist an additional hour — one minute after the first hour is counted as an additional hour — which is not fair and not correct.

The “departures” parking system is much more efficient, with built-in self-regulating measures. It does not leave room for any kind of abuse. It offers people the choice between rewarded abidance and costly negligence. Why not try something similar in the main parking area?

For a great project like the new airport, there is nothing unusual in expecting perfection.