Saudi Gazette report

JEDDAH — On arrival at the Haj and Umrah Terminal at King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA) in Jeddah, a pilgrim will not need more than 20-25 minutes to complete all entry procedures and go out of the terminal to take a bus to Makkah or Madinah, Al-Watan reported

Upon arrival, the pilgrim will have to go through the passports, the customs, health offices for vaccination and medical check up and the unified agents' office responsible for directing pilgrims towards their tuwafa establishments.

"There are more than 15,000 Saudi men and women working in the terminal to facilitate the entry of pilgrims," director of information and public relations of the KAIA, Turki Bin Maalawi Al-Dheeb told local daily Al-Watan on Tuesday.

He said the daily average of arrivals at this time is 35,000 pilgrims, which is expected to rise to more than 70,000 with the advent of the month of Dhul Hijja.

The Haj flights started on Dhul Qada 5 (July 28) and will terminate on Dhul Hijja 4 (Aug. 26).

Until Monday evening, about 43,000 pilgrims arrived via the Haj and Umrah Terminal onboard 245 flights coming from various parts of the world.

Al-Dheeb said the largest number of pilgrims who have arrived so far were from Pakistan, Indonesia, India and Egypt.

"The management of the airport and more than 27 other concerned government and private departments are determined to finalize the procedures of the pilgrims quickly and easily so that they go out of the airport to proceed to any of the Two Holy Cities," he said.

Al-Dheeb described the terminal to be the fourth largest lounge in the world with a total area of more than 500,000 square meters and said the processing of the entry arrangements for the pilgrims was going smooth.