Operation complete: PIA’s last Hajj flight lands in Quetta

PIA MD says flight delays were caused by overcrowding at Jeddah’s Hajj terminal.

LAHORE: Pakistan International Airline’s (PIA) 2012 Hajj operation was successfully completed with the arrival of Flight PK-3662 in Quetta on Friday. According to a press release, the national carrier brought back around 100,000 Hajjis to Pakistan. Managing Director of PIA Muhammad Junaid said that flight delays were caused by overcrowding at Jeddah’s Hajj terminal where 80,000 to 100,000 passengers would arrive at the same time for return journeys to their home countries. Delays also resulted from detailed security checks, immigration formalities, and the Saudi law that penalised an airline if a flight took off without a booked passenger.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 1^st, 2012.