PIA pre-Hajj flights start Friday

109,000 to travel from seven cities via PIA.

LAHORE:

Pakistan International Airlines will fly some 109,000 pilgrims to Saudi Arabia for Hajj from seven Pakistani cities starting on Friday, said a PIA spokesman on Wednesday.

He said that PIA’s pre-Hajj flights would begin from Quetta on September 30, with PK-1901 departing to Saudi Arabia at 6:30pm. The flight will be seen off by PIA Managing Director Nadeem Khan Yousufzai.

The first Hajj flight from Peshawar (PK-1601) will depart at 8:45pm on September 30; the first from Islamabad (PK-1401) will leave on October 1 at 1:00am, from Karachi (PK-1701) at 1:50am and from Lahore (PK-1201) at 2:20am.

These inaugural flights from the major cities will carry 1,737 intending pilgrims to Jeddah. Pre-Hajj flights from Sialkot and Multan will commence from October 9 and October 13. The pre-Hajj operations will be completed on October 31 after 305 flights take some 109,000 passengers to Jeddah.

PIA will undertake ten flights daily and operate a total of 78 pre-Hajj flights from Quetta carrying 15,190 intending pilgrims; 66 flights from Peshawar carrying 19,100; 46 flights each from Islamabad and Lahore carrying about 21,810 each; 38 flights from Karachi carrying 16,722; seven from Sialkot carrying 3,320; and 24 from Multan carrying 11,378.

Seven aircraft will be used for the operations including three Boeing 747s, two Airbus A310s and two Boeing 777s. Two Boeing 747s will be kept on standby.

The PIA spokesman said that the flight operation had been chalked out in close coordination with both Pakistan and Saudi civil aviation, customs, immigration and security agencies.

He said that several improvements had been made to last year’s arrangements. The waiting time for passengers before the start of their journey has been reduced by half (from 16 hours to 8 hours) by eliminating processing at Haji camps. Travel documents will be processed only once at Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, Sialkot and Quetta. The same will not be true at Multan, he said, due to a shortage of space because of construction work at the airport. Pilgrims from Multan will check in with their baggage at a Haji camp while the rest of their documents will be checked at the airport.

PIA will also hand out CDs informing Hajis of PIA policies, how to fill out travel and immigration forms, and what they can carry in the hand luggage, the spokesman said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 29^th, 2011.