On each visit to Kuwait International Airport, I feel very sorry and disgusted with it, especially when I reminisce about how the very same airport used to look like when I was younger, before it was disfigured and tampered with. I still remember how some hotshot genius came up with the idea of expanding the airport into a massive, chaotic shopping mall with shops occupying the majority of its area, leading to unbearable congestions.

What use are these shops, except for the telecom branches and money exchangers, for passengers? Necessary services can be provided after the passport lounge, with a limited number of outlets such as car rental offices in order to avoid unjustified congestions currently taking place.

An airport usually gives the first impression about a country. It is a basic element of evaluation for all visitors. I personally feel much embarrassment on seeing visitors arrive at the airport during high seasons. A visitor will surely be infatuated with the airport's pink color that has only been chosen as an official one by the civil aviation department because the director likes it.

Visitors are keen on easier procedures in checking in and out. Order is the thing our miserable airport misses. Arriving and departing passengers meet everywhere. Smoking, which is banned, is seen all over the airport. The arrival passport lounge immediately gets overcrowded when five flights land simultaneously. Both long and short term parking lots are not enough, simply because the airport has turned into a shopping mall, attracting more customers than passengers. The traffic department is incapable of controlling traffic at the main gate.

I am fully convinced that the main missing element is not a spacious building. Any new building will never solve the problem, because order is the key thing we lack at the airport, as well as in many other public facilities. Many smaller airports receive heavier passenger traffic simply because they are well-organized and managed. We do not need pink boards, cafes, restaurants or garment stores inside the airport to improve it. All we need is a very strict system, which we lack in most sectors in Kuwait. - Translated by Kuwait Times from Al-Jarida

By Ali Mahmoud Khajah