Saudi Gazette report

DHAKA — The first group of Haj pilgrims from Bangladesh arrived in the Kingdom on Thursday.

A Biman Bangladesh flight carrying 419 pilgrims landed at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah. Flight BG-3001 took off from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka at 7:15 a.m. local time. State Minister for Religious Affairs Advocate Sheikh Mohamed Abdullah and State Minister for Civil Aviation Md Mahbub Ali saw off the pilgrims at the airport.

Bangladeshi Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Golam Mosih, Consul General F.M. Borhan Uddin and Haj Consul Md. Masudur Rahman, Regional Manager of Biman Mohammad Ali Osman Nur, Marwan Solaimani of the Saudi Ministry of Haj and Umrah and Chairman of the Tawafa Establishment for the South Asian Pilgrims Wafath Ismail Bodor were on hand to receive the pilgrims at the Haj Terminal of KAIA.

A Biman Bangladesh official said the airline was operating five more Haj flights to Jeddah on Thursday.

A total 127,198 Bangladeshis will travel to Saudi Arabia for Haj this year. Biman Bangladesh Airlines will carry 63,599 pilgrims, while Saudi Arabian Airlines transport the rest. The return flights will begin on Aug. 17, and continue till Sept. 15.

This year Bangladeshi pilgrims can now complete immigration pre-clearance at Dhaka airport before heading to Saudi Arabia. Previously, pilgrims were required to wait up to six hours after landing in Saudi Arabia to complete the immigration procedures before heading to Makkah or Madinah.