At Lahore’s Jinnah International Airport, the first aircraft carrying 354 Hajis touched down on Thursday, initiating the post-Hajj flights operation. At 9:00 am, Saudi Air’s inaugural Hajj flight touched down at Lahore Airport.
Approximately 700 Hajis will arrive in Lahore today on aircraft operated by PIA, AirBlue, and Saudi Air. At 2:39 pm, the second Hajj flight carrying 190 Hajis of the government’s quota is scheduled to land at Lahore Airport. At 8:00 p.m., the third Hajj flight will touch down.
Today is scheduled to mark the start of Pakistani Hajis’ return from the sacred cities of Makkah and Madinah, with aircraft also arriving in Multan and Islamabad. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) states that all airport preparations for the post-Hajj operation are finished.
The Hajis will return home on more than 250 planes overall, according to CAA officials. On board Pakistan International Airlines’ (PIA) 171 aircraft, more than 35,000 Hajis will return home.
Pilgrims will be flown from Jeddah and Medina to a number of Pakistani cities, including Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore, Multan, Sialkot, Peshawar, Sukkur, and Quetta, on special flights operated by the national flag carrier. Today at 1:40 PM, the national airline is expected to make its inaugural landing at Jinnah International Airport in Karachi.
In addition to PIA, three private airlines will fly to Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, and Multan: Serene Air, Airblue, and Air Sally. Over 2,000 pilgrims will return to different places on Thursday, the first day of the post-Hajj activity. Up until July 21, flight operations will be conducted.
At five in the morning, the second Hajj flight, ER-2921, departed from Lahore in eastern Pakistan, according to a representative of the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA). There were 279 pilgrims on it.
At 9:20 a.m., the third flight, PK-1341, carrying 149 people, departed from Faisalabad for Madinah. At the airport, the pilgrims were bid farewell by Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and other officials.
The PCAA spokeswoman stated, “In this regard, all necessary arrangements were made in the domestic departure lounge reserved for Hajj flights.”
Authorities have announced that another Hajj flight will leave from Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, on Sunday night at approximately 9:15 p.m. Pakistan time.
The Makkah Route Initiative was formally introduced earlier this week by Saudi ambassador Nawaf bin Said Al-Malki and Pakistan’s minister of religious affairs, Senator Talha Mahmood, in order to accommodate more than 26,000 pilgrims from Pakistan at the Islamabad airport.
Before leaving for Saudi Arabia, Hajj pilgrims are required to go through the immigration process at the airports in their home countries.
The Pakistani Religious Affairs Ministry announced that on June 21, the final aircraft transporting pilgrims from Pakistan would depart for Saudi Arabia.
