ZCZC
BSS-05
HAJJ-FLIGHT
Hajj flight begins today
DHAKA, JULY 4, 2019 (BSS) – The first hajj flight carrying 419 pilgrims
left Dhaka for Saudi Arabia this morning.
Sources at Biman Bangladesh Airlines said the hajj flight left the airport
at 7:15 am.
State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Md Mahbub Ali and State
Minister for Religious Affairs Advocate Sheikh Md Abdullah saw the hajj
pilgrims off at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport here, said the
sources.
Biman will carry 63,599 passengers, which is about half of the number of
the total hajj pilgrims.
The remaining pilgrims will be flown by Saudi Airlines, the national
carrier of Saudi Arabia which will start its hajj flight on July 6.
This year for the first time, the immigration formalities of some
Bangladeshi pilgrims will be completed in Dhaka. Biman is going to operate
189 pre-hajj flights, 157 dedicated and 32 scheduled flights from tomorrow to
August 5, by its own four ‘Boeing 777-300ER’.
The airlines will operate 11 flights to Madina from Dhaka for the first
time this year. Apart from Dhaka, 19 hajj flights will be operated from
Chattogram while three from Sylhet.
Also, they will operate 176 post-hajj flights, 147 dedicated and 29
scheduled flights from August 17 to September 15.
So far Biman carried 10, 60,444 pilgrims to Saudi Arabia to perform the
holy hajj since 1973, said an official press release issued earlier here.
BSS/ASG/RQ/RY/12:20 hrs