Mahmood Hasan Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) will be transporting around 47 percent of the Pakistani Haj pilgrims this year. Of the 143,368 Pakistanis expected to perform Haj this year, Pakistan's national carrier will be ferrying around 67, 000 pilgrims, PIA's Country Manager Shahbaz Ahmed said Saturday night. The airline will be operating 169 flights in the pre-Haj operation with most of the planes being wide bodied — either 747s or 777s. It will fly eight to nine flights everyday with all the flights landing and taking off from Jeddah. The airline will also have a plane on stand-by at Karachi airport. The first PIA Haj flight is arriving Monday and the last pre-Haj flight will arrive on Oct. 9, the PIA official said. The Pakistani carrier will bring in 220 employees to help the Haj operation. Of this around 50 employees will come before Haj, while the remaining personnel will be brought in for post-Haj operation. The PIA will also bring around 250 loaders for the post-Haj operation. "Around 25 loaders are working on a flight. With PIA operating 8-9 flights a day, the loaders will be working in shifts," he elaborated. The PIA will be operating Haj flights from Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, Quetta, Multan and Sialkot. The passengers ferrying on PIA will have to bring their own Zamzam. "Every passenger will be allowed 10 liter can," he clarified. Haj pilgrims would be allowed 30kg baggage along with 8kg hand luggage. As far as excess baggage is concerned, the airline has not come out with a policy for this year. "In previous years, a passenger was allowed 10kg excess baggage for SR50. If there is still more baggage that is charged SR25 per kg," he added. Asked about the new regulation announced by the Saudi authorities that foreign workers would no longer need to carry a printout of their exit and re-entry visas, the PIA official said they have not received any official communication in this regard. He, however, said that it might be a hurdle for expatriates on their way back if the new procedure is brought in without proper mechanism.
