JEDDAH, 21 December 2004 — Air France will fly in a total of 2,700 pilgrims beginning today. The first flight will bring 140 Hajis, according to Shuja U.H. Pasha, station manager of the airline.
“All the pilgrims will arrive on the three weekly scheduled flights. There will be a total of 12 flights, with the last one arriving on Jan. 15,” Pasha told Arab News yesterday. “The return flights will begin from Jan. 25, and last till Feb. 12,” he added.
“All preparations are in place. We are getting extremely good cooperation from the authorities,” the station manager said. He explained that the Hajis would be transported from the aircraft at the North Terminal to the Haj Terminal. In the return phase, they will leave from the North Terminal as normal passengers.
Abdo Abi Allam, manager, Western Province, said that the number of passengers is almost the same as last year. “A majority of them are from Canada, flying in from Toronto to Paris, and some from the United Kingdom, besides some from France itself,” he said.
