System Failure at RHIA Terminal Probed
Judge Samir Hammoud has tasked on Saturday the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch to conduct investigation into the failure at Beirut airport which led to overcrowding of passengers flying from Lebanon.
A major failure in the baggage system at Rafik Hariri International Airport has left passengers stranded for hours in the terminal and inside planes after boarding.
A malfunction hit the baggage drop and passengers system operated by SITA, a multinational company providing IT and telecommunication services to the global air transport industry.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation had issued a statement saying the system failure had occurred Thursday at 11:30 pm, resulting in a “total suspension of the registration process and congestion in the departure sections.”
In another statement, the Directorate clarified that SITA is the operator of more than 70% of the luggage registration systems around the world, including at Beirut's airport, adding that “the full responsibility for the malfunction falls on the company” and vowing to take “the necessary legal measures” against SITA.
The chaos prompted Lebanon's Middle East Airlines to delay all its flights for Friday
Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri on Friday summoned the caretaker ministers of public works, interior and finance as well as security and administrative officials to discuss the matter.
Hariri's move came after the head of the Central Inspection Bureau, Judge George Atiyeh, summoned to his office Fadi al-Hassan, the chief of the RHIA, and Civil Aviation Director General Mohammed Shehabeddine to question them over “the circumstances of the congestion that occurred overnight and at dawn at the airport,” the National News Agency said.
Source: Naharnet
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