Ministry to announce hajj flight schedule on Saturday

ISLAMABAD: Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony would likely to announce Hajj Flight Schedule on Saturday, said an official of the ministry.

Talking to APP, he said the first hajj flight would depart Madinah Munawarrah on July 24. Intending pilgrims would be informed about the schedule through SMS, letters within next two to three days.

He said 50 percent government scheme pilgrims would be airlifted directly to Madinah Munawarrah and Jeddah from Pakistan and vice versa.

The initial flights would reach directly to Madinah Munawarrah during first fifteen days of the operation, while other such flights would reach directly to Jeddah from Pakistan.

Government scheme Hujjaj would be airlifted to holy land by designated airlines including Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Shaheen Airlines, Saudi Airline and Air Blue.

Government Hajj Scheme would operate from Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta, Sialkot, Multan, Faisalabad, Rahim Yar Khan and Sukkur gateways, he added.

This year 107,526 pilgrims would perform Hajj under government scheme, while 71,000 would perform Hajj through private scheme.

The ministry has already issued offer letters to 651 HGOs out of 743 HGOs, whereas 29 new HGOs have been offered only 2 percent quota.