Mumbai: In a timely relief for over 1,70,000 Haj pilgrims, who will go to Saudi Arabia for Hajj in 2017, the Haj Committee of India has made active the Haj Flight Status link on its website. The Fligh Status checker was introduced for the first time last year.
A special section added on the Haj Committee of India website is titled as "Flight Status" with a blinking "New" button. Under this section, flight status of all outbound Haj flights starting from July 24, 2017 and ending on August 26, 2017 when the last flight will take off from India have been listed.
Selecting a date and clicking on the "Submit" button will give the Haj pilgrim status of their flights.
Haj pilgrims who desired to check status of their flights can follow the below mentioned steps:
- Visit the Haj Committee of India website
- Select "Flight Departure date" by browsing the drop down menu
- After selecting the departure date, click on "Submit"
- Your flight status will be displayed on the screen
The first flight SV-5227 carrying 300 Haj pilgrims departed at 08:30 am from Delhi International Airport and arrived at Madinah Special Haj Terminus at 11:50 am on Monday July 24, 2017.
Haj is performed every year to commemorate Prophet Ibrahim - who is revered by Muslims, Christians and Jews simultaneously.
A total of 1,70,000 Haj pilgrims - based on quota alloted to India, will go to haj this year.
The Haj Ministry in Saudi Arabia has alotted quota for every country based on population of Muslims. More than 3.5 million Muslims from all across the world perform Haj every year.
Meanwhile, King Abdulaziz International Airport’s Hajj terminal in Jeddah and Prince Muhammad International Airport in Madinah have completed all preparations for receiving pilgrims who will start arriving at these airports from Thursday (Dhul Qada 1), the first day of the Hajj season of 2017.
More than 7,000 staff, representing 27 government and private agencies, will be involved in implementing the Hajj plan.
According to the plan, all the lounges of the Hajj terminal will be converted into arrival lounges from Dhul Qada 1 till Dhul Hijja 4 and departure lounges from Dhul Hijjah 16 to Muharram 15.
The General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA), in coordination with the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah and other agencies, has prepared a plan in line with the directive of the Saudi leadership, to fast-track the arrival procedures by taking advantage of the e-track system.
Upon arrival at the terminal, officials from the Ministry of Health will receive pilgrims and give them necessary health guidelines and services, and then they will proceed to the Passport Control to complete immigration procedures.
The Hajj terminal is spread over 90,000 square meters of roofed area and 160,000 sq. meters of open area.
There are 142 counters for Passports (Jawazat) and 120 counters of the Ministry of Hajj. At Madinah airport, officials of the government and private departments serving pilgrims met to finalize the Hajj operation plan.
It is expected that the airport will receive a total of 2,678 Hajj flights, a five percent increase over last year.