JEDDAH – President of the General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA) Prince Fahd Bin Abdullah has approved a set of penalties for airlines violating regulations, Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper said on Saturday.



The penalties, in line with the directives regulating the transport of Haj pilgrims, include impounding of planes that land at Saudi airports without obtaining prior permits.



“It is permissible for GACA to impound a plane that comes without the prior permit for Haj flights and take the measures according to the regulations,” the newspaper quoted a GACA source as saying.



Penalties will also be imposed on aircraft that do not comply with arrival and departure schedules.



For breaching the schedule, an aircraft will be fined SR10,000 for every incoming pilgrim it carries and SR15,000 for every departing pilgrim. If the aircraft carries less than 100 pilgrims, the fine is fixed at a minimum of SR100,000. The erring aircraft will be impounded if they cannot pay the fine. — SG