Abdulaziz Ghazawi Okaz/Saudi Gazette JEDDAH – Saudi Arabian Airlines has chartered 30 airplanes to increase its capacity for transporting pilgrims during the Haj season, said Abdullah Al-Ajhar, assistant executive director of public relations at Saudia. All chartered airplanes can accommodate large numbers of passengers and will help Saudia implement its Haj plan successfully without disrupting domestic and overseas flight schedules already in place. Saudia airplanes are transporting pilgrims from over 100 domestic and overseas destinations, he added. “Everything is going according to plan. We're planning to provide our services to around 1 million pilgrims.” This year's plan focuses, among other things, on mobilizing manpower in all terminals inside and outside the Kingdom and raising the level of coordination in these terminals, Al-Ajhar noted. The goal here is to provide pilgrims with the best services available, he pointed out. Saudia will also operate additional flights from the Kingdom's regions to Jeddah, he announced. He said: “Saudia has scheduled 912 international flight arrivals and 899 departures, in addition to 240 flights to transport pilgrims within the Kingdom.” Saudia offers pilgrims a plethora of services that include issuing boarding passes for arrival and departure flights at the same terminal to ensure pilgrims can focus on their rituals and not worry about going to an airline office to confirm flights or get boarding passes. Saudia flight attendants speak different languages and serve pilgrims with meals that cater to their tastes.
