LAHORE: PIA pre-Haj operation of transporting more than 78,000 intending pilgrims to Saudi Arabia commenced Friday. At the Lahore airport, pilgrims were seen off by Air Vice Marshal Noor Abbas, adviser to CEO PIA, airport manager, CAA’s Nazir Ahmed Khan, PIA’s district manager Lahore Omar Nawaz Goraya, station manager Ali Asghar Zaidi and other officials of the national carrier. PIA will operate around 294 flights to the holy land and from Lahore it will transport 15,652 intending pilgrims through 51 flights. PIA’s on time departures were witnessed at all airports while it made special arrangements for intending pilgrims and distributed reading material, umbrellas, travel kits and hand bags to the pilgrims before the flight departure. PIA CEO Air Marshal Arshad Malik instructed PIA Haj team to provide maximum facilities to intending pilgrims. The Haj flights will operate from Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Sialkot, Multan, Faisalabad, Quetta, Rahim Yar Khan and Sukkur. The airlines pre-Haj operation will conclude on August 5. The post-Haj operation will commence from August 17 and end on September 14.
