Haj flights will start arriving on July 24

Haj flights will start arriving on July 24

RIYADH – The General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) announced on Wednesday that Haj flights for the annual pilgrimage of 2017 will start arriving on July 24 (Dhul Qaada 1). The last Haj flight will land at Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport on Aug. 26 (Dhul Hijjah 4), the Saudi Press Agency reported.

It is expected that there will be an increase of more than 260,000 foreign pilgrims this year comparing with the last four year’s because of the lifting of the Haj quota cut imposed in 2013.

According to the figures of the Saudi General Authority for Statistics, a total of 1,862,909 pilgrims performed Haj in 2016, of whom 1,325,372 pilgrims came from 169 countries apart from 537,537 domestic pilgrims.

There had been a 20 percent cut in the quota for foreign pilgrims coming from each country while the number of people allowed to perform Haj within the Kingdom was reduced by 50 percent to ensure the safety of pilgrims during the largest ever expansion of the Grand Mosque in Makkah.

Meanwhile, GACA organized a workshop on improving air navigation of Haj pilgrims at Jeddah Hilton Hotel. Representatives of several government and private departments and agencies involved in the Haj operation attended the workshop. These included Makkah and Madinah emirates, Ministry of Haj and Umrah, Jeddah and Madinah airports, Makkah Development Authority, Saudi Arabian Airlines and almost all aviation companies operating in the Kingdom.

It was announced at the workshop that GACA strives to achieve the goals of the National Transformation Program and the Vision 2030 that target increasing the number of Haj pilgrims to 2.5 million by the year 2020 and to four million by 2030 respectively.

GACA granted license to 58 aviation companies from around the world to operate Haj flights in 2016. These airlines transported 1,246,660 foreign pilgrims, of these 694,171 pilgrims arrived Jeddah airport while 551,170 pilgrims landed at Prince Muhammad International Airport in Madinah.

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source: saudigazette.com.sa

Pilgrims start arriving from tomorrow

Pilgrims start arriving from tomorrow

JEDDAH — King Abdulaziz International Airport’s Haj terminal in Jeddah and Prince Muhammad International Airport in Madinah have completed all preparations for receiving pilgrims who will start arriving at these airports from Thursday (Dhul Qada 1), the first day of the Haj season of 2016.

For the coming period of two and a half months, the airports are expected to receive around 1.4 million pilgrims from all over the world.

More than 7,000 staff, representing 27 government and private agencies, will be involved in implementing the Haj plan.

According to the plan, all the lounges of the Haj terminal will be converted into arrival lounges from Dhul Qada 1 till Dhul Hijja 4 (Aug. 4 – Sept. 5) and departure lounges from Dhul Hijjah 16 to Muharram 15 (Sept. 17 to Oct. 16).

The first flight carrying pilgrims from New Delhi will land at 5.30 p.m.at Madinah airport. A total of 1,36,020 Indians will perform Haj this year.

The General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA), in coordination with the Ministry of Haj and Umrah and other agencies, has prepared a plan in line with the directive of the Saudi leadership, to fast-track the arrival procedures by taking advantage of the e-track system.

Upon arrival at the terminal, officials from the Ministry of Health will receive pilgrims and give them necessary health guidelines and services, and then they will proceed to the Passport Control to complete immigration procedures.

The Haj terminal is spread over 90,000 square meters of roofed area and 160,000 sq. meters of open area. There are 142 counters for Passports (Jawazat) and 120 counters of the Ministry of Haj.

At Madinah airport, officials of the government and private departments serving pilgrims met to finalize the Haj operation plan. It is expected that the airport will receive a total of 2,678 Haj flights, a five percent increase over last year.

Meanwhile, Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, emir of Makkah and adviser to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and chairman of the Central Haj Committee, met Minister of Haj Muhammad Saleh Bantan at his office in Jeddah on Tuesday.

During the meeting, Prince Khaled was briefed on the second phase of the e-track and e-bracelet systems for pilgrims and GPS system for pilgrims’ buses.

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Source: saudigazette.com.sa