First Hajj flight from Karipur to take off on May 21

Kondotty: The first batch of Hajj pilgrims will depart from Karipur on Tuesday, May 21. Around 166 pilgrims will fly to Jeddah on an Air India flight departing at 12:05 a.m. and arriving at 3:50 a.m. Following that, the second and third flights are scheduled to depart at 8:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m., respectively.

According to the State Hajj Committee, pilgrims departing on the first flight should report to the Hajj camp at 10 a.m., the second batch at 12:00 p.m., and the third batch at 2 p.m. 

The camp will be inaugurated today at 4 p.m. in the Hajj House. A wide range of facilities have been arranged by the Hajj Committee for the pilgrims, both at the airport and at Hajj House. 

Air India Express has scheduled 59 flights from Karipur to Hajj, of which three will be operated daily. Four flights have been scheduled for June 8. An additional flight before June 9 will be scheduled for those who have a chance on the waiting list. 

In Kochi, the Hajj camp will begin on May 25, and the first flight will take off on May 26. On the other hand, Hajj Camp in Kannur will start operations on May 31 and carry passengers on June 1. Saudi Airlines will be operating service from Kochi and Kannur centres.

Around 17 flights are expected to operate from Kochi and nine flights from Kannur are scheduled to provide service until June 9. 

A total of 17,883 pilgrims from Kerala will be travelling for Hajj this year through the State Hajj Committee; out of them, 7279 are male and 10,604 are female.

The return journey of the pilgrims hailing from Kerala is scheduled from July 1 to 22 through the Medina route.