"Only 1,420 pilgrims now remain in the Kingdom and they will be carried by Algeria Airlines on scheduled flights shortly," the minister said. As many as 144,060 Algerians came for Umrah this year, of whom about 70,000 came during Ramadan.

Many of these pilgrims were stranded at Prince Muhammad International Airport in Madinah. The delay and cancellation of flights by Algerian Airlines had caused a lot of problems to the country's pilgrims.

"We coordinated with other authorities to force Algeria Airlines provide the stranded pilgrims with food, accommodation and transportation," the minister said. Algeria Airlines later operated a number of flights and chartered Saudi Arabian Airlines' flights to transport most of the stranded pilgrims.