Nearly half a million pilgrims arrive in Makkah, Madinah

JEDDAH —Nearly half a million pilgrims arrived in the Kingdom since the Haj session started on July 14.

The vast majority of the pilgrims arrived through King Abdulaziz International Airport ( KAIA) in Jeddah and Prince Muhammad Bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Madinah on board 2010 flights, the General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA) has announced.

It said a total of 117,441 pilgrims arrived via KAIA on board 651 flights from various parts of the world as of Monday. It is an increase of about 7 percent over their number the same period last year.

GACA said as many as 298,645 pilgrims arrived via Madinah airport on board 1,359 flights, a rise of about 3 percent over their number during the same period last year.

The authority said it had completed all arrangements for receiving the pilgrims in collaboration with the concerned government departments and private agencies working in the airports.

The Haj Terminal at KAIA can process 3,800 pilgrims an hour on arrival and 3,500 on departure, the authority said.

The waiting areas at the arrival lounges within the airport can accommodate about 7,000 pilgrims and about 12,000 outside the airport, it added.

The authority said the lounges with advanced facilities could accommodate about 91,000 arriving and 84,000 departing pilgrims a day.

It said KAIA has a capacity to receive 312 flights every day at the rate of 13 flights per hour.

The Madinah airport has 102 passport desks to finalize the procedures of pilgrims in a record time, the authority said, adding that there are nine luggage conveyors and 222 parking spaces for buses transporting the pilgrims to their accommodations.

A total of 637 pilgrims from Sudan arrived at Jeddah Islamic Port on Friday, representing the first batch of sea pilgrims to arrive in the Kingdom this year.

Indonesian pilgrims

The first flight carrying Indonesian pilgrims arrived through a dedicated Makkah Road Initiative hall at King Abdulaziz International Airport on Tuesday.

The initiative facilitated the completion of entry procedures for the 406 pilgrims from the airport in Jakarta.

The group was received by members of a supervising committee including the undersecretary of the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah and the vice president of ground operations for Saudi Airlines. They presented the pilgrims with flowers, sweets and gifts.

The airport administration said it had approved the Haj operational plan being supervised by GACA in cooperation with governmental and private sectors to achieve desired goals in line with operational plans for serving pilgrims since their arrival until departure.

Director General of KAIA Essam Nour said GACA had exerted its efforts with the rest of the sectors to prepare practical arrangements for receiving pilgrims. He said the progress made at the airport was in line with the keenness of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman on providing all best services to the pilgrims.

Awareness

The Makkah Development Authority has distributed more than 2 million awareness leaflets in nine languages on how to use the Mashaer Train and how to reach the Jamarat area easily.

The authority said it distributed the leaflets at the airports, guidance centers located at the entry points to Makkah, the Haram plazas and other palaces where the pilgrims gather.

It said it was also showing videos on the topic on aircraft carrying pilgrims from all parts of the world.

Bandar Hajjar, president of the Islamic Development Bank, which is supervising the Kingdom's Sacrificial Meat Project, asked pilgrims to buy coupons being sold at SR475 ($127). The price of the sacrificial coupons rose by 5.4 percent over last year's price.

Hajjar said about 1.2 million heads of sheep and cattle have been secured for the pilgrims.

Cleaning drive

Makkah Municipality, on its part, said it employed 23,050 cleaners to clean the city and the holy sites during the Haj days. It also said it set up 27 centers for civic centers in the holy sites.

On the other hand, the coordination council of the internal Haj service companies said 18 escalators and electric staircase were installed near Al-Khaif Mosque in Mina for use by old and disabled pilgrims.

Haramain Train

The company operating the Haramain Express Train announced that it has stopped the free test runs and will officially launch the commercial service in September. It said the train will transport pilgrims from Makkah to Madinah and back via Jeddah.

Epidemics-free

The Ministry of Health has confirmed that so far there have been no cases of epidemics or quarantine among the pilgrims and said the health situation is reassuring.

The ministry said it focused its priorities on preventive health aspects of pilgrims. It closely follows up developments and changes in the health situation globally in cooperation with World Health Organization and other international health bodies, the ministry said.