Air India to run two special flights for Haj pilgrims

Kolkata, Oct 20 : Air India will operate two special flights with Airbus 747-400 aircraft from Kolkata to Medina for Haj pilgrims from October 23 to November 13 daily.

R Srinivasan, Airport Director, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport, Kolkata said a total of 10,575 pilgrims from Bengal will fly to Medina with 420 passengers leaving daily.

Pilgrims from Patna and Ranchi will also go to Medina via Kolkata. The first batch of 420 pilgrims from the Bihar capital arrived here today by air.

A total of 5,706 pilgrims from there will travel through Kolkata till November 2.

Pilgrims numbering 2,630 from Ranchi will be arriving here between November 2 and November 30.

Exclusive arrangements have been made for Haj pilgrims, including a separate AC terminal, X-ray machines, check-in counters, customs counters and money exchange facilities.

''We are utilising the old international arrival terminal where seating arrangements have been made for 420 pilgrims so as not to create any congestion in the main terminals handling passengers of regular flights,'' the Airport Director told UNI.

--UNI

(c) 2009 Published with permission from United News of India.
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