Riyadh – The General Authority of Civil Aviation of Saudi Arabia (GACA) has announced its success in serving Hajj 2023 pilgrimage flights. Indonesia is the country with the busiest flights.

The GACA announced that it had served more than 1.5 million pilgrims with the Kingdom’s airports and transported around 3.2 million passengers (PP) through 102 flights, reports the news agency. SPAThursday (8/10/2023).

The number of passengers during this year’s Hajj season has seen an increase of more than 86% compared to 2022. According to GACA, this significant increase reflects the significant growth in the number of pilgrims using the Saudi International Airport.

GACA Chairman Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al-Duailej underlined that the success of the operational plan and the exceptional and record achievements made by the Authority are the result of wise guidance from the management to provide the best service to pilgrims and facilitate related procedures. .

Furthermore, Al-Duailej called this achievement likely thanks to holistic services and cutting-edge technology “strategically deployed” to streamline the journey of pilgrims. He appreciates all the sectors that play a role in it.

GACA said the report, flight statistics during the Hajj season put Indonesia as the top country for incoming and outgoing pilgrims. India ranks second, followed by Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nigeria.

Indonesia and the other two main countries were appreciated and rewarded by Saudi Arabia as the country sending the largest number of pilgrims. As is known, this year Indonesia will receive 221,000 haj quotas plus 8,000 additional quotas. Thus, the total number of Indonesian hajj pilgrims in 2023 will reach 229,000. While Pakistan’s quota is around 179,000 and Bangladesh’s is 127,000.

There are six international airports allocated by GACA to receive pilgrims. Among them are King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, King Fahd Dammam International Airport, Prince Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Madinah International Airport, Prince Abdulmohsin bin Abdulaziz Yanbu International Airport and Taif International Airport.

The statistics also highlight the success of the “unaccompanied Hajj” carried out by the Saudis to improve services for pilgrims departing from the airport. This year, the initiative has benefited over 680,000 pilgrims, covered 2,200 flights and processed over 1.148 million bags.

Watch the video “Time of arrival of the last group of Indonesian Hajj pilgrims in Makkah“

(kri/nwk)