Air India has scheduled 46 special Hajj flights out of India this year from Jaipur and Chennai to Medina and Jeddah, respectively. During the first phase, it will operate these flights from May 21 to June 21, and during the second phase, it will bring those passengers back on 43 flights from July 3 to August 2. The airline plans to fly a little over 10,000 passengers on its B787 and A321neo
Happy to resume the special Haj flights, Campbell Wilson, CEO, MD, Air India said: “Air India will operate flights from Chennai and Jaipur while Air India Express will operate from Kozhikode and Kannur. Our collective effort with Air India Express is to provide unparalleled comfort and convenience to the passengers on this pilgrimage. We look forward to serving the pilgrims through our dedicated flights.”
Air India Express will deploy its B737 on 44 flights from Kozhikode to Jeddah carrying 6,363 passengers, and 13 flights between Kannur and Jeddah, carrying 1,873 passengers during the first phase.
In all, the airline will fly 8,236 passengers in the first phase across 57 flights. In the second phase, which starts from July 13 to August 2, it will fly back the pilgrims from Medina to Kozhikode and Kannur.
Aloke Singh, MD, Air India Express & AirAsia India, said: “We are happy to operate Hajj special flights from Kozhikode and Kannur, for the benefit of pilgrims from Kerala, in addition to our scheduled flights to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from Mumbai, Mangaluru, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Kozhikode and Kannur.”
Saudi Arabia allocates quotas to each country every year to allow a certain number of people into the country. This year, India has been allowed to send 175,000 Hajj pilgrims, more than twice as much as last year, when India was given a quota of 80,000 pilgrims.
More than 80% of Hajj pilgrims have been allocated to the Hajj Committee of India, while the rest have gone to private Hajj operators.