Hajj 2019: PIA commences preparation for special flight operations
- By Salah Uddin -
- Mar 31, 2019
ISLAMABAD: National flag-carrier, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), has started preparations for special flight operations, ARY News reported on Sunday.
PIA will operate Boeing 777 and Airbus A320 aircraft during the phase-wise operations to facilitate 65,000 pilgrims in 300 special and scheduled flights.
The flights will be operated from major cities including Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar, Sukkur and Quetta.
The national flag-carrier has set Rs100,000 fares per person for flights from Sindh and Balochistan and Rs110,000 from Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
On March 12, Minister for Religious Affairs, Noorul Haq Qadri, had announced names of 112,526 successful applicants who will perform Hajj under the government scheme this year.
The minister announced that as many as 112,526 people would perform Hajj under the government scheme while 71,684 people will go for Hajj under private Hajj scheme. In total, 184,210 people will perform Hajj from Pakistan this year, he said.
Read More: Biometric verification of Hajj pilgrims to begin next week
The ballotting, he said, was performed on 90,924 applications whereas the rest of the applicants were selected on special criteria of age and unsuccessful past applications.
As many as 216,542 applicants had applied to perform Hajj on government quota which is comparatively cost-effective than packages offered by private operators.
Earlier on March 5, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) had decided to temporarily add six narrow-body aircraft to its fleet from June become commencement of flight operations.
PIA administration released tenders for acquiring Airbus A-320 and 737 aircraft on wet lease for six months to facilitate uninterrupted operations for facilitating Hajj pilgrims.