Pakistan International Airline (PIA) started its post-haj operation on Thursday and the first returning Haj flight from Saudi Arabia landed at Allama Iqbal International Airport, around six hours later than scheduled time, causing inconvenience to pilgrims and their families waiting at the airport.
Talking to Pakistan Today, a middle-aged pilgrim Allah Ditta said though the pilgrimage remained satisfactory, but people had to face great hassle at King Abdul Aziz International Airport, Jeddah.
He said pilgrims had to complete approximately four-and-a-half-hour journey in over 15 hours due to overcrowding and mismanagement on part of both PIA and Jeddah aviation authorities.
He said per PIA’s instruction, almost all passengers had reached Jeddah airport seven to eight hours before the flight’s scheduled departure time, but the flight was delayed for over six hours.
Sharing his plight, Muhammad Shafique said PIA’s Haj flight PK-2202 was scheduled to reach Lahore at 6:40am, but it landed after a delay of over six hours at 12:40pm.
According to PIA spokesman, the first Haj flight Boeing 747 (PK-2202) brought home 503 pilgrims from Jeddah.
PIA Lahore District Manager Manzoor Ahmad, Haj Deputy Director Zahid Mahmood and other officials welcomed the passengers at the Lahore airport.
The PIA spokesman said the airline had made special arrangements for pilgrims at Jeddah airport to expedite document processing.