Jakarta: As many as 285 wide body air carriers run by Indonesia's flag carrier Garuda Indonesia will start carrying a total of 221,000 Haj pilgrims from the island country which has the largest population of Muslims in the world.
The first flight of Garuda Indonesia GA 1101 will start from Sultan Hasanuddin International Airport, Makassar (UPG Embarkation Point) on July 27 at 21:55 pm local time reach Madinah International Airport at 08:30 am on July 28, 2017.
The second flight of Garuda Indonesia GA 7261 will also embark on July 27 from Jakarta International Airport (JKT Embarkation Point) and reach Madinah at 08:30 am on July 28, 2017.
Three more flights of Garuda Indonesia GA 6030, GA 6040 and GA 6201 from SOC Embarkation point will depart for Saudi Arabia on July 27, 2017.
According to the Hajj 2017 flight schedule released by Garuda Indonesia on Monday, Indonesia's national air carrier will operate a total of 285 flights from different embarkations points in the country to carry 221,000 haj pilgrims.
The last flight of Garuda Indonesia will be GA 7927. It will depart for Jeddah Haj Terminus in Saudi Arabia on August 26, 2017.
The complete Haj Flight schedule of Garuda Indonesia can be downloaded by clicking on the official website: Indonesia Hajj 2017 Flight Status
The tentative Haj schedule 2017 is from August 30 to September 03, 2017. A final schedule will be declared once the new moon of the month of Dhul Hijjah is sighted.
Earlier, Indonesia's flag carrier Garuda Indonesia had agreed to prepare 14 wide-body aircraft for Haj 2017, as against 11 aircrafts it operated in 2016.
Garuda Indonesia president director M. Arif Wibowo signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Director General of Hajj and Umrah at the Ministry of Religious Affairs, Abdul Jamil to ensure the best service for Indonesian pilgrims.
The fleet will consist of three Boeing 747-400s, each able to carry 428 passengers in a two-class configuration, four B777-300ERs, of which each can carry 318 passengers in a three-class configuration, and seven two-class Airbus 330-300 with 257 passengers capacity.
The Government and Commission VIII of the House of Representatives (DPR-RI) overseeing religious affairs had earlier agreed on the new price of hajj (Biaya Penyelenggaraan Ibadah Haji) this year. The new hajj price this year amounts to Rp34,890,312, rising by 0,72% (Rp249,000) compared to that of last year.
The new Haj price included airplane ticket, passenger service charge, housing, and living allowances. Specifically, the hajj price is allocated for airplane ticket (Rp26,143,812), housing (950 Saudi Riyal, which equals to Rp3.391,500.) and living allowances (1,500 Saudi Riyal, which equals to Rp5,355,000.)
As previously reported, Indonesia’s hajj quota this year raises by 31.4 percent. Initially, Indonesia’s hajj quota reached 155,200 people for regular hajj and this year, Indonesia’s hajj quota reaches 204.000 people out of 221,000 people for national quota.