Air India to be only a nodal agency JEDDAH – Approving various proposals concerning this year's Haj operations, the Indian government on Thursday said approximately 170,000 pilgrims will be going to Saudi Arabia. Of these 125,000 pilgrims will go through Haj Committee of India, reports reaching here said. The number of pilgrims who could perform Haj during a particular year from a country is decided by the Saudi Arabian government. “Air travel arrangements for these 1,25,000 pilgrims will be made by the Ministry of Civil Aviation. These pilgrims will be carried from 21 embarkation points through chartered flights. Bhopal and Goa have been added as new embarkation points this year,” said the government after a Cabinet meeting on Thursday, newspapers said. This year, each pilgrim going on Haj through Haj Committee of India will pay Rs16,000 (approximately SR1,350) plus airport charges as air fare and the rest of travel expenses will be borne by the government. Most of the pilgrims will be carried by Saudi Arabian Airlines, National Private Air Services Company Limited (NAS) and Al-Wafeer Air, which have been selected through a sealed tender process. Air India will coordinate the operations and provide support as and when required. “While Air India will be the nodal agency for the Haj pilgrims, due to capacity constraints we are not likely to fly ourselves at all. We will coordinate and do whatever else is required, but we won't run the service ourselves,” a top Air India official said. Air India did make an attempt, but was outbid by the three Saudi Arabian airlines. Officials said Air India now has only three operational jumbos – down from the 11 last year – two of which are kept for VIP flights. “Even the A-310s used for Haj flights are fewer this year,” said an official. Last year, Air India and two Saudi Airlines operated Haj flights between Oct. 20, 2009 and Jan. 1, 2010.
