The first Hajj flight from Bangladesh carrying 410 pilgrims has departed for Saudi Arabia.
The Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight left Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport around 9:00am on Sunday. It will arrive in Jeddah at 12:45pm local time, said a press release.
During departure, State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Md Mahbub Ali, State Minister for Religious Affairs Md Faridul Haque Khan, Biman Bangladesh Airlines Board of Directors Chairman Sajjadul Hasan, Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism Secretary Md Mokammel Hossain, Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (Caab) Chairman Air Vice Marshal Muhammad Mafidur Rahman, and Managing Director and CEO of Biman Bangladesh Airline Abu Saleh Mostafa Kamal, among others, were present.
As the Covid-19 situation has improved a bit this year, the Holy Hajj is going to be held on July 8 depending on the moon sighting with the participation of one million pilgrims from all over the world.
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Of them, 57,585 Hajj pilgrims will attend from Bangladesh.
On Friday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the Hajj Programme-2022 (1443 Hijri) urging everyone to uphold the dignity of Islam, the religion of peace.
She asked the pilgrims to abide by the rules and laws of Saudi Arabia while performing their Hajj rituals there.
Biman will carry 31,000 pilgrims through 75 dedicated flights, according to the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism.
Pilgrims will have to spend a minimum of Tk 5,21,150 to perform Hajj this year.
This year, the government has fixed Tk 1.40 lakh as plane fare.
Hajj is open to those who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 and are under the age of 65, added the statement.
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Pilgrims travelling from abroad will also need to have a negative PCR test taken no more than 72 hours before their departure for Saudi Arabia, the statement said.
Last year, 58,745 pilgrims performed Hajj in the world because of the Covid pandemic
Before the pandemic, as many as 1,27,198 pilgrims from Bangladesh performed Hajj in 2019.
Before the pandemic, some 2.5 million people used to travel every year to Saudi Arabia for Hajj.
