First Hajj flight with 290 pilgrims leaves for Jeddah

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The first Hajj flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines Ltd carrying 290 pilgrims left Dhaka for Jeddah Monday morning, reports UNB.
Chief Adviser (CA) Fakhruddin Ahmed formally inaugurated the Hajj flight where Religious Affairs Adviser Maj Gen (retd) Dr Matiur Rahman, Cabinet Secretary Ali Imam Mujumder, Secretary to the Chief Adviser's Office (CAO) Kazi M Aminul Islam and officials concerned were present.
The CA boarded the flight at about 6:40 am and exchanged greetings with the pilgrims.
Later, a special munajat was offered praying peace and prosperity of the nation as well as safe journey of the pilgrims.
The aircraft DC-1030 flight no BG-0801 took off Zia International Airport (ZIA) at about 7:31 am. Religious Affairs Ministry sources said, some 45,000 Hajj pilgrims were expected to perform Hajj this year.
The national flag-carrier Biman Bangladesh will ferry some 35,000 pilgrims including 5,583 ballotee pilgrims while the Saudi Airlines will carry the remaining Hajj pilgrims. The Hajj flights for Jeddah will be completed on November 26. The return Hajj flights will start from December 25 and it would continue until January 7, 2008.