Hajj Flights: Operation smooth this time

Every year on the last day of hajj flight operation, a number of pilgrims would shed tears at the capital’s Ashkona Hajj Camp after failing to go to Saudi Arabia due to various irregularities and fraudulent activities of some hajj agencies.

Some flights would be cancelled and some others would depart half empty.

For example, around 150 hajj aspirants could not go to Saudi Arabia last year as their hajj agencies didn’t buy air tickets and embezzled the money.

Biman Bangladesh Airlines and Saudi Airlines had to cancel at least 30 hajj flights due to mismanagement and irregularities of some hajj agencies.

But this year was an exception.

“All 126,701 registered hajj aspirants are scheduled to reach Saudi Arabia by tomorrow [today] morning,” Anisur Rahman, secretary of the religious affairs ministry, told The Daily Star yesterday afternoon before leaving Dhaka for Saudi Arabia.

“This is for the first time in recent years that neither the Biman nor the Saudi Airlines cancelled a single hajj flight due to hajj agencies’ mismanagement and failure,” he added.

Saiful Islam, director at Ashkona Hajj Camp, said a total of 122,093 hajj aspirants reached Saudi Arabia as of midnight on Sunday by 351 flights of Biman and Saudi Airlines.

The rest of 4,608 hajj aspirants were scheduled to fly to Saudi Arabia by 11 flights of the two airlines on the last day of hajj flight operation yesterday.

Saiful said visas of 222 hajj aspirants could not be arranged as most of them expressed unwillingness to perform hajj this year citing various reasons, including illness and family problems.

The operation of hajj flights had begun on July 4.

Visiting the Ashkona Hajj Camp in the city’s Uttara yesterday, this correspondent found hajj aspirants talking to their near and dear ones as they were waiting for their scheduled flights.

It was a clam and quiet place with only a few hajj aspirants were waiting there.

Secretary Anisur Rahman said the overall hajj flight operation was smooth this year compared to recent past years.

He said the ministries concerned and the Biman authorities were very sincere in making sure that there were no problems in sending the pilgrims to Saudi Arabia.

“Every week, the ministry held meetings with the hajj agencies who didn’t complete house rent formalities, visa processing, and buying tickets. We monitored the activities of the hajj agencies and guided them.”

For the first time this year, the pre-arrival immigration of half of the total hajj aspirants were completed in Dhaka. This had been a major concern for many elderly hajj aspirants over the years as they had to wait for up to seven hours at the Saudi Arabia airport to complete immigration process.

Meanwhile, Shahadat Hossain Taslim, president of Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh, yesterday said the hajj flight operation was very smooth this year compared to recent previous years.

Hajj will be held on August 10 and the return hajj flight operation will begin on August 17.