Planning ahead: Meeting held at BKIA to discuss Hajj flights

It was decided first one will take off on August 3

PESHAWAR: A meeting was held at Bacha Khan International Airport on Tuesday to discuss the schedule for 2016 Hajj operations. It was decided the first flight for Hajj would depart on August 3.

Airport officials told the media that flights for Hajj from BKIA would leave between August 3 and September 5.

They added the flight to depart first from Peshawar for Jeddah on August 3 would be part of the government Hajj scheme. However, officials maintained that flights under private schemes would depart on August 4 from BKIA.



The flights from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia would start returning from between September 17 and October 16 after Hajj.

Although it is likely that Hajj would be completed by September 13, all the pilgrims would return after four days. These are the latest rules of the Saudi Arabian government for the convenience of pilgrims. The aim is to ensure they do not suffer hardships due to crowds at airports. That is usually the case when a large number of pilgrims return on the same day.

The airport officials added that besides Pakistan International Airlines, Saudi Arabian Airlines and a number of other private carriers would fly pilgrims for Hajj.



At the meeting, arrangements at the Hajj camp and BKIA were also discussed. In this respect, a number of proposals for improvement of camp conditions and security were floated.

The meeting was attended by officials of the Civil Aviation Authority, Directorate of Hajj in Peshawar and Federal Investigation Agency, among others.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 8^th, 2016.