The first dedicated Hajj flight took off from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport for Jeddah this morning with 415 pilgrims.
The Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight (BG3301) took off from the airport at 7:00am.
Apart from Biman, Saudia and Flynas have also started operating hajj flights from today, sources at the two airlines said.
During the inauguration of the hajj flight of Biman, Religious Affairs Minister Faridul Haque Khan at a programme at the Dhaka airport said the government has taken all preparations to operate the hajj flights with the highest priority for the smooth journey of the pilgrims to and from Saudi Arabia.
Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism Sajjadul Hasan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Biman Mustafa Kamal Uddin, Secretary of civil aviation ministry Mokammel Hossain, Religious Affairs Secretary AH Hamid Jamaddar, Chairman of Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh Air Vice Marshal Mafidur Rahman, Managing Director and CEO of Biman Shafiul Azim, President of Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh (HAAB) Shahadat Hossain Taslim and Association of Travel Agents of Bangladesh (ATAB) President Abdus Salam Aref, among others, were present at the programme .
This year, 85,257 Bangladeshis will go to Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj. Biman will carry 42,629 pilgrims and the rest of the passengers will be carried by the two airlines of Saudi Arabia.
Biman will operate 116 pre-hajj flights and 125 post-Hajj flights. For the convenience of the pilgrims, Biman will transport Hajj pilgrims from Dhaka as well as Sylhet and Chattogram. Biman's pre-Hajj schedule is from May 9 to June 10 and post-hajj schedule is from June 20 to July 21. Biman is using its own aircraft to operate the hajj flights.
This year, hajj is likely to be observed on June 16 depending on the sighting of the moon.
