By Layan Damanhouri
Saudi Gazette
JEDDAH — There was no mention of the amount of salary or replacing jobs for Saudis, a representative from the Saudi Ground Services Company (SGS) said referring to reports published recently in several local newspapers, claiming the company handling ground services in Saudi airports had hired 60 expatriates favoring them over Saudis.
“We did not say the expatriates will receive a SR6,000 salary,” said Hatim Alotorgy, SGS’s media relations officer.
Commenting on the number of expats occupying operational jobs at the company, a source said: “In 2017, Saudi Ground Services Company (SGS) has experienced some movement in the recruitment sector, where a total number of 294 Saudi employees and 511 non-Saudi employees have left the company due to retirement, end of contract and other reasons.”
Since SGS is a provider of ground handling services in all of the Kingdom’s airports, it has operational requirements and commitments toward more than 120 international airlines, he said. “During 2017, SGS appointed 60 non-Saudi employees who met operational requirements and have linguistic capabilities to communicate with the foreign airlines. Despite that, and during the same period, SGS has also recruited 942 Saudis in coordination with the Human Resources Development Fund,” the source added.
The SGS said it has a Saudization rate of 94.9 percent across 27 airport terminals in the Kingdom.
The company provides ground-handling services and support services including passenger services in the lounges and hall services at airports including fleet services, technical services, transportation services, traffic control services, and luggage services in the 27 Saudi airports for domestic and international airlines.
