Following discussions with British consular officials, a scheduled Saudia flight left at 12:10 p.m. carrying over 50 British pilgrims. The group consisted of the most needy of those stranded at the Saudia (South) Terminal. Among them were very young children, the elderly, disabled and some nursing mothers and pregnant women. One elderly British Umrah passenger suffered a minor heart attack on Wednesday and, while recovering in another part of the terminal, missed his flight.
Saudia has arranged an extra flight, a wide-body 747, to leave at 1.40 a.m. on Friday.
“The names (of those who will board that flight) are being collected today,” said Farouk, one of the pilgrims.
He said that British Consul-General Kate Rudd had been very actively involved in helping the whole departure process.
“She personally collects the passports and returns with boarding passes, takes individuals to the check-in desks and making sure they get away safely,” he said. “She’s following it through all the way and wants no mistakes.”
One of the pilgrims, Masoud Khan, was taken ill and had to be hospitalized, but was full of praise for the British diplomatic staff.
“One of the staff actually came to the hospital to see me,” he said. “All the team — they are absolutely wonderful people.”
Local response to the pilgrim’s plight had been growing. Farouk said that on Wednesday, six meals had been delivered to the group by well-wishers.
“To round it off, a Saudi came in late in the evening and said he was saddened by what he had read in the newspaper. ‘You are our guests,’ he said. He came with milk for the babies, and cookies.”
A British consular official at the North Terminal said that Qatar Airways was planning three extra flights for pilgrims to travel to Europe via Doha. He added that he understood that British Airways and BMI were looking after their passengers “very well.”
Qatar Airways, which canceled more than 135 flights to and from Europe over the past five days, has resumed flights to the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Scandinavia and Switzerland and flights were back to a full operating schedule on Thursday.
As with other carriers, the airline is clearing the backlog of customers in cities across its network whose travel plans had been affected by the disruption. Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker said: “Qatar Airways has worked tirelessly to try to get its flights back to normal.
Over the past few days our customers, like those of many airlines around the world, have faced the inconvenience of this unprecedented disruption to their travel plans.”
