JEDDAH, 7 January 2003 — Saudi Arabian Airlines Director General Dr. Khaled Ben Bakr personally welcomed the first batch of pilgrims flown in by the airline for this year’s Haj at the Haj Terminal of King Abdul Aziz International Airport here yesterday.
Bakr, who presented pilgrims and crew members with a gift bag on behalf of the airline, said: “We’re keen to provide the best of services to the guests of God coming from the world over.”
The SAA flight landed on the dot at 10 a.m. Bakr, accompanied by King Abdul Aziz International Airport Deputy Director General Samir S. Maddah, SAA Executive Vice President Marketing Abdulaziz R. Alhazmi, Indian Consul General Syed Akbaruddin and a host of Haj and airline officials, formally received the pilgrims — 141 men and 146 women.
Bakr and other hosts posed with young children among the pilgrims for a photo session.
The first flight was followed by two other flights from Bombay and another from Ahmedabad.
The first group of 200 Indian pilgrims arrived aboard an Air-India flight on Saturday night, the day the Haj Terminal opened for the annual pilgrimage season. Since then Haj flights have come from many countries, including Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Indonesia.
Two hundred of the Indian pilgrims who arrived on Saturday headed straight for Makkah to perform Umrah, and are now on their way to Madinah to pray at the Prophet’s Mosque.
There is a 26 percent increase in the number of pilgrims SAA is transporting this year over last year and a jump of 89 percent in the last five years.
SAA will transport 893,702 pilgrims by 1,754 flights from 80 international destinations, including 19 in the Middle East-Gulf region. Pilgrims coming from the region’s 16 destinations will total 195,433. It will fly in 141, 872 pilgrims from Europe and America, 3,72,120 pilgrims from Asia and 124,000 from Africa.
