Staff Reporter:
Two aircrafts of Biman Bangladesh Airlines carrying 829 hajj pilgrims reached Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Sunday.
The first flight carrying 414 passengers reached the airport around 7:30 am while the second flight reached at 11:30 am, said a press release from the Bangladesh Embassy in Riyadh.
Mohammad Javed Patwary, Ambassador of Bangladesh to Saudi Arabia received them at the airport.
This year, Biman Bangladesh Airlines authorities will carry 61,111 hajj pilgrims out of total 1, 22,221 with its five aircraft. The rest will be carried by the Saudia and Flynas.
Lauding the prime minister’s diplomatic success, the state minister said the immigration of the hajj pas-sengers at the KSA end is being completed in Dhaka under the ‘Road to Makkah Initiative’.
He said several initiatives were taken to ease sufferings of the pilgrims and no passenger has been sub-jected to harassment for booking tickets after initiating a new rule and enhanced monitoring since 2019.
The Biman authorities concerned will conduct 162 pre-hajj flights from May 21 to June 22, and 168 post-hajj flights from July 2 to August 3 this year.
Like last year, Biman will operate flights from Chattogram and Sylhet to Jeddah and Madinah along with Dhaka this year.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the hajj programme on May 19.
