JEDDAH, 25 November 2006 — The first Haj flight carrying 433 pilgrims is scheduled to leave from Islamabad International Airport for Jeddah today. National Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain will see off the pilgrims at the airport, SPA said yesterday. The first Haj flights from Lahore and Karachi are also set to leave for the Kingdom today, while the first Haj flight from Peshawar was to depart yesterday. Haj flights from Quetta, Multan and Sukkur will reach Jeddah via Karachi, while those from Faisalabad airport will be sent via Lahore. A total of 462 special Haj flights will airlift 150,000 pilgrims to Saudi Arabia up to Dec. 25. The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) will transport about 124,500 pilgrims to Jeddah and Madinah while Saudi Arabian Airlines will airlift about 25,500 pilgrims for Haj this year. To facilitate the intending pilgrims, some 16,500 pilgrims will directly be flown to Madinah. Of them, 15,000 will travel through PIA while 1,500 through Saudia. All flights in the post-Haj phase will be operated from Jeddah airport. The return flights will start from Jan. 4 till Feb. 3.
543 Bangalore Pilgrims
JEDDAH, 25 November 2006 — Some 543 Haj pilgrims and four infants arrived in Madinah from Bangalore yesterday morning by Saudi Arabian Airlines flights. All of them have been accommodated at the Taiba Building overlooking the Masjid-e-Nabawi. Another 810 Hajis were also expected to arrive in Madinah from the Karnataka state capital later in the day. In all 6,268 pilgrims from the state are expected to perform Haj this year. They will be part of 157,000 Indian pilgrims likely to perform Haj this year.
