Muristek
KARACHI: The national flag carrier — Pakistan International Airline (PIA) — will begin this year’s Hajj flight operations from June 6, ARY News reported on Tuesday.
According to PIA spokesperson, the first Hajj flight will depart for Madina from Islamabad on June 6. PIA said the Hajj flights to Saudi Arabia would fly to Jeddah and Madinah.
“The national flag carrier will operate overall 400 pre and post-Hajj flights from May 31 to August 13,” Pakistan’s national flag carrier said in a statement.
Hajj operation will be carried out from 8 cities of Pakistan including Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Multan, Peshawar and Quetta, the statement read.
The PIA will operate Boeing-777 for Hajj operations while Airbus A-320 would be used for flight operations from Quetta, according to the spokesperson.
Hajj quotaAccording to the Ministry of Religious Affairs, 31,253 aspiring pilgrims will perform Hajj this year under govt scheme as Pakistan was given the quota of 86,000 pilgrims in 2022. The names of 32,000 successful applicants will be announced after balloting in accordance with the 40 per cent government quota.
Hajj pilgrims under the government scheme will arrive in Saudi Arabia via PIA, Air Blue, Serene Air and Saudi Air.
PIA TO CHARGE PRIVATE HAJJ PILGRIMS IN DOLLARS
The quota for pilgrims has been divided into 60% and 40% for private and government tour operators respectively, it was learnt.
It has been further recommended to charge Rs945,000 for government-facilitated Hajj while private tour operators will be allowed to charge above Rs1.2 million for the pilgrimage.
It is to be noted that Saudi Arabia has allotted the second-highest quota of Hajj pilgrims to Pakistan after the Kingdom allowed one million people to perform the holy pilgrimage this year.