Jeddah's King Abdul Aziz International Airport has been ranked the worst airport in the world for 2016, according to the website “The Guide to Sleeping in Airports" which evaluates the overall airport experience based on the views of passengers.

The website, which conducts a survey of the services offered for passengers who spend extended periods within the airports’ premises, released a list of the worst 10 airports around the world with Jeddah at the top followed by South Sudan and Nigeria closing the top three.

"All aspects of the terminals need serious improvement", the website said, describing the facilities at King Abdulaziz International Airport.

"Though JED continually promises that “next year” travellers will see a new terminal, clean toilets, more amenities and a semblance of organization have yet to appear. Instead, when you arrive at Jeddah's Hajj Terminal you walk into a terminal where cleanliness is but a mythical concept. The place is said to be staffed by a team of immigration officers described as “careless”, “arrogant” and “rude”, and amenity-wise, the terminal is devoid of restaurants, shopping and entertainment," it said.

Speaking to Arab News, Abdullah Al-Kharif, an official of the media and public relation Department at GACA, said that the website of “The Guide to Sleeping in Airports” was a personal blog of sleeping experiments in airports, and then it was transformed to a website of evaluating airports in the world. The website’s classification is not based on specific standards to evaluate airports.

Al-Kharif said that a delegation of experts will visit international airports in upcoming weeks to evaluate these airports. Al-Kharif, however, said feedback is important to improve services at Saudi airports.