The first return-Hajj flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines carrying 419 pilgrims landed at Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) from Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) early Friday.
The flight 'BG 332’ with the pilgrims landed at the HSIA around 5:40am, said a media release signed by Boshra Islam, General Manager of Public Relations of the Biman Bangladesh Airlines on Friday morning.
The return-Hajj flights will continue until 22 July, it reads.
The returning pilgrims were received at the boarding gate of the HSIA with flowers and each pilgrim was provided with Zamzam water from a distribution booth set up by the Biman Airlines.
Biman Bangladesh Airlines’ Managing Director and CEO Mohammad Zahidul Islam Bhuiya inaugurated the water distribution programme.
Mohammad Saiful Islam, Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, Air Vice Marshal Mohammad Mofidur Rahman, Chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority, Hayat-Ud-Dowla Khan, Director of Customer Service at Biman Bangladesh Airlines and Executive Directors of the airport, along with other senior officials from Biman Bangladesh Airlines and the Civil Aviation Authority, were present during the inauguration.
The returnees expressed their satisfaction with the overall services provided by the Biman Bangladesh Airlines, according to the release.
Biman Bangladesh Airlines took 40,967 Hajj pilgrims to the KSA by 107 pre-Hajj flights.
For the post-Hajj period, the airlines 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.
Half of the passengers from Hajj return flights will travel by Biman Bangladesh Airlines while the rest will travel by Saudi Arabian Airlines and Flynas.
The first Hajj flight departed on 9 May. The flights to Saudi Arabia continued until 12 Jun. A total of 218 flights were operated for Hajj pilgrims. They included 106 flights operated by Biman Bangladesh Airlines, 75 by Saudi Arabian Airlines, and 37 by Flynas.
A total of 21 Bangladeshi Hajj pilgrims have died so far. Of them there were 18 men and three women. Sixteen died in Makkah, four in Madinah and one in Jeddah.
