Airlines suspend Hajj operations for a week

Move comes as religious affairs ministry has not yet announced details of Hajj expenses

LAHORE:

The Hajj flight operations of domestic and foreign airlines, including the Pakistan International Airlines, have been suspended for a week due to a delay in the announcement of details of Hajj expenses by the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

The Ministry of Religious Affairs has allocated Rs800,000 for Hajj expenses for Islamabad, Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa under the government Hajj scheme while that for pilgrims from Sindh and Balochistan have been fixed at Rs791,000.

According to the airline’s management, the move has the Hujjaj worried as they cannot book tickets and hotels.

Tickets could not be booked yet as the details of Hajj expenses were not announced, the management said.

Booking will begin after details of Hajj expenses are received from the Ministry of Religious Affairs. On the other hand, the Ministry of Religious Affairs has announced the Hajj expenses.

According to the PIA officials, Hajj operation will be carried out from eight cities of Pakistan – Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Multan, Peshawar and Quetta. They said a total of 297 Hajj flights will go to Jeddah and Madinah.