1st return-Hajj flight lands in city
FE REPORT | Saturday, 22 June 2024
The first return Hajj flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines carrying 419 pilgrims landed at Dhaka's Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) early on Friday.
The flight 'BG 332' landed at the HSIA around 5:40am, said a press release issued on Friday by Boshra Islam, General Manager (Public Relations) of the Biman Bangladesh Airlines.
The return Hajj flights will continue until July 22, the press release added.
Upon arrival, the returning pilgrims were greeted at the boarding gate of HSIA with flowers, and each pilgrim was provided with Zamzam water from a distribution booth set up by Biman Airlines.
Md Zahidul Islam Bhuiyan, Managing Director and CEO of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, inaugurated the water distribution program.
According to the press release, the returnees expressed their satisfaction with the overall services provided by Biman Bangladesh Airlines.
Biman transported 40,967 Hajj pilgrims to KSA via 107 pre-Hajj flights.
For the post-Hajj period, the airline will operate 125 flights to bring the pilgrims back to Bangladesh.
Among these, 34 flights will be operated from Medina, including 9 Medina-Chattogram flights and 5 Medina-Sylhet flights. From Jeddah, a total of 91 flights will be conducted, including 12 Jeddah-Chattogram-Dhaka flights and 5 Jeddah-Sylhet-Dhaka flights.
This year, a total of 86,527 pilgrims from Bangladesh went to perform the holy Hajj. Almost half of the pilgrims will use Biman Bangladesh Airlines for their return, while the rest will travel by other airlines.
The first Hajj flight departed on May 9, and flights to Saudi Arabia continued until June 12.
A total of 218 flights were operated for Hajj pilgrims, including 107 flights by Biman Bangladesh Airlines, 75 by Saudi Arabian Airlines, and 37 by Flynas.
This year 21 Bangladeshi Hajj pilgrims have died, with 18 men and 3 women among them. Sixteen died in Makka, four in Medina, and one in Jeddah.
During the inauguration, Mohammad Saiful Islam, Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, Air Vice Marshal M Mafidur Rahman, Chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB), Hayat-ud-Dawllah Khan, Director (Customer Services) of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, Group Captain Muhammed Kamrul Islam, and Executive Directors of HSIA were present, among others.