First Batch Hajis to arrive from Thursday

The first batch of Haj pilgrims will arrive at King Abdulaziz International Airport on Thursday, SPA reported.

All systems go at the Haj Terminal to receive Hajis following preparations by the relevant government and private organizations.

With the opening of the air corridors to receive pilgrims at the beginning of Dul Qa’da, the Haj Terminal will receive Hajis till Dul Hijja 4. It will then be prepared for the departure of pilgrims from Dul Hijja 16 to Muharram 15 — the last date of departure for pilgrims.

The time required for arrival formalities has been reduced to 30 minutes on average. It is expected to be further reduced to just 15 minutes per passenger. 

There will be 70,000 pilgrims coming on 312 daily flights — 13 flights per hour on average.

Upon arrival, the pilgrims are received by the Health Ministry officials, who give them guidelines on health-related issues. Then the pilgrims move to the passport section.

After picking up their luggage and passing through customs, they are received by the Haj Ministry officials, complete some other formalities and leave by bus for Makkah.

Some 27 public and private organizations with a workforce of 7,000 people are available at the Haj Terminal to serve the pilgrims all year round.

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.