Kamruzzaman Bablu :
In last three days, a total of 14,023 Bangladeshi pilgrims reached Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj this year through 37 flights by Biman Bangladesh Airlines and Saudi Arabian Airlines till Saturday.
Of them, Biman and Saudi Airlines carried 7,156 pilgrims in the first two days (Thursday and Friday) while they ferried 6,867 on Saturday.
To carry the passengers, Biman operated 18 dedicated flights while the Saudi Airlines 19 flights, Tasnim Aktar, Public Relations Manager of Biman Bangladesh Airlines told The New Nation on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the pre-departure immigration system became active to give service to Bangladeshi pilgrims after the failure of Saudi Arabian computer server on July 4.
“Finally, it has been possible to start the Pre-Departure Sarver system to immigration for Bangladeshi pilgrims at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport after a day’s stoppage,” Saiful Islam, Director of Ashkona Hajj Camp office, told The New Nation.
“Activities of pre-departure system will remain active from now on. Under this schedule, immigration of maximum six flights’ passengers will complete per day. If the system will remain active, it will take highest 3 minutes to complete immigration for per person,” he added.
Earlier, the Saudi authorities have taken all measures to complete their immigration procedures before departure at the HSIA.
Pilgrims had to wait six to seven hours in the aircraft after landing Jeddah ,Saudi Arabia to complete their immigration procedure.
This year, a total of 127,198 pilgrims will go to Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj. Of them, Biman will ferry 63,599 pilgrims, while the Saudi will carry the4 rest. Among the total Hajj pilgrims, 7,198 will go under government arrangement and 56,401 under private management.
