Patience snapped among pilgrims when, according to members of the group, Saudia offered to take just six stranded pilgrims on a 1.30 a.m. flight on Thursday to London.

Many of the pilgrims have been camped out at the terminal for up to seven days.

One of the stranded pilgrims contacted Arab News on Wednesday claiming that they had been told by Saudia that the rest of them would not be able to travel before May 5.

Tempers calmed after British Consul General Kate Rudd negotiated seats for 50 of the most needy pilgrims on a Saudia flight that departed for London at 12.20 a.m. on Thursday.

At the time of going to press, discussions between British diplomats, Saudia and other officials were continuing. One official, who did not want to be named, described the talks as “very constructive.”

Conditions among the group were becoming dire on Wednesday. There were exhausted and sick children lying on the floor with frantic parents begging for information about when they might be able to leave. Some older pilgrims were in the terminal with serious heart problems. Other pilgrims had not changed their clothes for days.

An e-mail sent by one of the passengers claiming to represent a group of pilgrims said they are “stranded at the departure lounge of Saudi Airlines.”

“We have been here for six days,” the e-mail said. “They have not provided food or water, or even accommodation. We have had a meeting with the flight/sales managers who have told us that flights will be available from the 24th of April 2010 — but these flights are already prebooked. We need to push for them to put on extra flights, otherwise we will have 2000+ passengers stranded at Jeddah airport, all waiting to get on as standby tickets back to London — obviously this is not the solution,” said the e-mail.

The e-mail continued: “There are children and ill people stranded at the airport — hotels are full, and charging extortionate amounts for rooms. Please help and pass onto the media and friends and colleagues. Please get the information out — please!!”

Saudi Arabian Airlines said it would resume flights to Europe on Thursday from the key hubs of Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam.  “Flights to European destinations will be restarted from Thursday as airports in Europe reopen in the wake of a decline in the effects Iceland’s volcanic eruption,” said Ahmed Saleh Madani, acting vice president for public relations.

He called on passengers to call Saudia ticket offices to reconfirm their bookings before proceeding to the airport. The cancellation of flights has cost the Kingdom’s national carrier $33 million.

BMI said in a statement that it planned to operate its flight from Jeddah to London Wednesday night as well as its scheduled flight on Thursday night. The airline, which has three services a week from Jeddah — Thursday, Sunday and Tuesday — and a daily flight from Riyadh (except Fridays), said in a statement that it plans a phased reintroduction of its international and domestic flights to and from London Heathrow following reopening of UK airspace on Tuesday night.

“Safety is, and continues to be, BMI’s No. 1 priority and the planned schedule for Wednesday may be subject to change throughout the day so customers are advised to check their individual flight status on our website,        flybmi.com, before leaving for the airport,” BMI stated.

Two other flights were scheduled to fly to Europe Wednesday night, Lufthansa to Frankfurt and Air France to Paris. Both were full.