Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is smoothly carrying out its post-Hajj flight operation and the national flag carrier flew 19,000 pilgrims back home in 37 flights over the past four days, the airline's country manager Shahbaz Ahmed said on Saturday here.
Briefing visiting Pakistani media persons at the Jeddah Hajj Terminal, Shahbaz Ahmed said that the airline was operating 10 flights daily - eight Hajj flights and two scheduled ones - from Jeddah, carrying returning pilgrims to Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Queeta and Peshawar. He was accompanied by General Manager of the airline's Passenger Handling wing at Jeddah Saeed Khan. They said that PIA's top management and the airline's staff at Jeddah were making all possible efforts to avoid possible flight delays.
According to them, the airline was using 260-strong staff at the Jeddah Hajj terminal for its post-Hajj operation. PIA, they said was mainly using its Boeing 777s and 747s, adding that five of the aircraft had been dedicated for PIA's post-Hajj operation, while one plane was on standby.
"Under post-Hajj operation, PIA has so far operated 37 flights, carrying nearly 19,000 Hajjis back to Pakistan," they said. Nearly 180,000 Pakistanis performed Hajj this year and more than 50 percent of them, totalling 96,000 Hajjis, would return to Pakistan via 96 PIA flights. PIA commenced its Hajj operation on October 30 this year and it would conclude November 30.
PIA officials claimed that by comparison with other airlines, PIA's flight delays were "minimum". In all, 75 airlines are operating from Jeddah airport for Hajj operation, handling nearly 60,000 passengers daily, the officials said. "We can imagine the congestion because of the (large) number of flights. On the first day after Hajj, there were 92 flights and on the second day, about 117 flights were operated from Jeddah airport," they maintained. On the third and fourth day, there were 103 and 102 flights, respectively, for the returning pilgrims.
They said that delay in reporting of Hujjaj at Jeddah airport was main reason for flight delays and "it is not possible for the airline to drop a single passenger because of penalty threat". Attributing flight delays on late arrival of Hujjaj at Jeddah airport from Makkah mainly because of extraordinary traffic pressure, unloading of their luggage, immigration and boarding at airport, they said that in addition to customary PIA staff, the airline had deployed 55 scouts at the Hajj terminal in Jeddah for guidance and helping Hujjaj.
Initial post-Hajj flights, they said, had been delayed because of congestion at the airport and roads. They said that now, the operation was moving in a smooth manner and delays had been minimised. Chairman PIA Lieutenant General (Retd) Asif Yasin Malik and the airline's Managing Director Muhammad Junaid Yunus issued special directives for timely Hajj operation and were in constant contact with PIA officials deputed at the Jeddah airport.
They said that the Chairman PIA was in Jeddah on October 29 to review the arrangements for the post-Hajj operation. Referring to local support, they said that local authorities, including the Saudi government and Saudi Civil Aviation and other service providers at the Jeddah Hajj Terminal were extending co-operating with the airline. Later, Pakistani journalists were also shown various sections of the sprawling Jeddah Hajj Terminal. PIA's Station Manager at Jeddah Sohail Raja, the airline's spokesperson Syed Sultan Hasan and other officials also accompanied the journalists.
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