Daily Times

The first Hajj flight 773 of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), carrying 328 pilgrims flew in the wee hours to Medina from Karachi here on Sunday. According to a spokesman for PIA, Chief Operating Officer of PIA Amanullah Qureshi, Director General of Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) Imtiaz Shah, Director Hajj Karachi Sajjad Haider and officials of the Civil Aviation Authorities (CAA) and PIA saw off the flight. As per the first day of the Hajj operation, around 700 pilgrims would fly through inaugural flights to Saudi Arabia from Karachi, Islamabad and Faisalabad. PIA’s Boeing 777 and Airbus 320 were being used for Hajj flights. A total of 320 special Hajj and scheduled flights would carry over 65000 pilgrims to Saudi Arabia. Before Hajj, the operation would continue until June 22 and after Hajj the operation would start from July 2 and continue till August 2. The spokesman said that the Hajj flights would be operated from Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Quetta, Peshawar, Siyalkot, Faisalabad, Sukkur and Rahim Yar Khan. The CEO of PIA had also issued directives to Hajj teams posted in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to provide best facilities to the pilgrims.