Hajj operation starts from Karachi, 3 private flights leave for KSA

Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Sardar Yousaf was present on this occasion to see off the pilgrims.

Lahore: The first special Haj flight will depart for Madina Munawara on August 16 at 5:00pm from the Allama Iqbal global Airport here carrying 360 pilgrims.

National carrier Air India plans to operate 230 special Haj flights to Jeddah from seven cities – Delhi, Srinagar, Mumbai, Kochi, Hyderabad, Panaji and Nagpur this year.

MLA Mohiuddin Bava said, “From past 7 to 8 years Haj pilgrims have been leaving to Saudi Arabia by direct flights from Mangaluru airport”. The number of Bangladeshi pilgrims was 98,762 previous year. “Over 75 percent of Pakistani pilgrims will stay in the central area and a 24X7 shuttle service will be available for transportation”, he said.

The return flights will start on September 27, with the first flight taking off from Jeddah, and the last flight is scheduled for October. 28, he added.

UP Haj Committee secretary Zubair Ahmad said that two flights left from Chaudhary Charan Singh airport on the first day. “Besides special arrangements for the Ahram, the police and home guard volunteers are deployed in sufficient numbers to load and unload the baggage carried by the pilgrims”, Veeri added.

He stated that this yr UP has a quota of 24, seven hundred pilgrims as towards 23,000 final yr.