LAHORE - The national flag carrier has transported more than 23,000 pilgrims to Saudi Arabia during Pre-Haj operation so far, said a PIA spokesman yesterday.

According to the spokesperson, 23,200 pilgrims were transported through 106 flights out of which were 50 special and 56 scheduled flights. The pilgrims were transported to Madinah and Jeddah. The month-long operations were started from August 4.

The PIA spokesman said that best arrangements have been made for the facility of pilgrims at different airports from where flights were departing.

In the pre-haj operation, from August 4 to September 5, PIA would operate more than 265 flights including scheduled flights to Jeddah and Madinah transporting approximately 51,000 pilgrims.

During this year’s Haj operations, PIA would operate flights from 10 cities of Pakistan including Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Sukkur, Multan, Rahim Yar Khan.

Flights cancelled

Six flights were cancelled and three other delayed yesterday due to different reasons at Allama Iqbal International Airport.

Four flights of Air Blue - PA-470, PA-471 (operating between Lahore and Jeddah); Pl-400, and PI-401 (Lahore-Karachi) - were cancelled while Shaheen Airline’s flight, NL-718 Jeddah-Lahore, and a PIA flight PK-317 Lahore-Karachi were also cancelled.

Three flights of PIA, including PK-312 (Karachi-Lahore), PK-203 (Lahore-Dubai), and PK-206 (Kuwait-Lahore), were delayed by 3 to 11 hours.