By Badr Al-Qathami

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

TAIF — A number of passengers have strongly criticized substandard services at the Taif airport in Saudi Arabia and said the airport's management had completely ignored them.

"The airport is giving much attention to celebrating international days rather than serving its passengers," one passenger said, without wanting to be identified.

The passengers said the airport was not only small in size but had been witnessing continued deterioration in services.

"The arrival lounge is too small to accommodate the large number of domestic and international passengers," another passenger said.

The passengers said there were only five chairs in the lounge and questioned if these chairs were for the old people or for those who came first.

They also said the airport completely shut down after midnight without any domestic and international flights arriving or departing.

They said the operations would resume only the next day, stranding many passengers who wanted to book connection flights.

A GCC traveller expressed unhappiness over the condition of the airport and said he could not find a cab outside the airport to take him to Makkah.

"I waited for more than an hour and a half to get a taxi to take me to Makkah but it was obvious that the airport did not have this kind of service," he wrote on his Twitter account.

The passenger also said he could not find a car to rent like at other international airports.

The passengers also complained that there was no security supervision of their cars parked outside the airport, which are often stolen.