Thiruvananthapuram: The first Haj flight this season from Nedumbassery airport took off at 3.20 pm on Monday to Jeddah after being flagged off by the Local Administration Minister Mr K T Jaleel. The Saudi Airline flight carried 450 Hajis including 229 women. A total of 10527 faithful will be going on Haj pilgrimage through the Nedumbassery airport this season. The pilgrimage for Haj through the airport will conclude on September 5 which includes 24 services.
At the flag off ceremony, state Haj committee chairman Kottumala Bappu Musalyar, MLAs Anwar Sadath and V K Ebrahim Kunju, CIAL airport director A C K Nair, executive director A M Shabeer and Haj committee members were present. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had inaugurated the Haj camp for this year at Nedumbassery on Sunday.
There will be two services from August 23 to 31 and one service from September 1 to 5. The return journey will begin on September 29 which will begin from Medina and the last flight will reach at 10.45 on October 14. The Haj camp is at the aircraft maintenance hangar of the airport. KSRTC and KURTC are operating special services to bring the pilgrims to the camp.
