Overflow areas for passengers departing Doha begin operation

The ‘Passenger Overflow Areas’ at Hamad International Airport (HIA) and Doha International Airport (DIA), curated for all departing passengers, commenced operations yesterday.Both the facilities, the first of their kind in the world, will be available to departing passengers round-the clock until December 31, Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive HE Akbar al-Baker told a media event yesterday.While the Passenger Overflow Area at HIA has the capacity to accommodate 24,000 passengers a day, that at DIA will be able to handle 12,000 departing passengers a day.Set to offer fans "extended memorable experiences and seamless connectivity” throughout both airports, the passenger overflow areas will only be accessible for passengers arriving at HIA and DIA more than four hours and up to eight hours prior to their scheduled departure flight time – regardless of the airlines in which passengers are flying with.Addressing the media, HIA chief operating officer Badr Mohamed al-Meer said: "The commencement of the passenger overflow area at both HIA and DIA will offer our visitors a remarkable chance to experience the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 at dedicated premises. Curated for all departing passengers, the overflow area is part of MATAR’s initial airport operations plan set to improve overall flow at both airports and accommodate thousands of visitors at any given time throughout the tournament.” To Page 6MATAR is Qatar Company for Airport Operation and Management.On the expected number of visitors arriving at both airports during the tournament, al-Meer commented: "We are expecting to receive approximately 44,000 arriving passengers a day and upwards of around 900 aircrafts movements daily.”Departing passengers can access the overflow area at HIA by taking a shuttle bus from the airport’s metro station. Similarly, they can go back to the HIA terminal using the shuttle service.To access the overflow area at DIA, passengers can either take a taxi (or Uber) to the facility or use public transportation to the ‘Al Matar Al Qadeem’ metro station. Passengers from DIA’s passenger overflow area can walk to the departures terminal, he said."I want to thank the teams that have worked so hard to deliver solutions that no previous tournaments had and invite our passengers to experience what we had prepared for the departure journeys,” al-Meer said. FIFA President Gianni Infantino and other dignitaries were present at the opening ceremony that followed.