LAHORE, Feb 15: The PIA’s first post-Haj flight (PK-1302) carrying 427 Hajis landed at the Lahore airport on Saturday at 4:05pm — some 95 minutes late.

Punjab Assembly Speaker Afzal Sahi, PIA general-manager (Punjab) Talat Omar, Lahore district manager S.S.H. Bilgrami and Haj directorate officials received the Hajis at the airport.

The passengers included Punjab culture minister Shaukat Bhatti, MNA Farid Ahmad and former Lahore High Court chief justice Allah Nawaz.

The PIA distributed 10-litre bottles of Aab-i-Zamzam among the Hajis.

The Civil Aviation Authority had also made arrangements for seating 500 people and helping Hajis’ relatives with their inquiries.

CAA’s vigilance section, airport security force and police were also there.

A large number of visitors had gathered outside the Haj terminal to receive their relatives.

Talking to reporters, Hajis said the arrangements in Saudi Arabia had been satisfactory.

Hajis said some 200 Hajis had not been able to board the PIA flight for Islamabad due to traffic congestion in Jeddah.

During the post-Haj operations, the PIA will bring back around 110,236 Hajis in 302 special Haj flights — each carrying about 433 to 474 Hajis. The post-Haj operation will end on March 17.

The PIA will carry 33,746 Hajis to Lahore in 75 flights, 22,496 Hajis to Karachi in 64 flights, 16,470 Hajis to Peshawar in 61 flights, 16,740 Hajis to Quetta in 62 flights and 20,784 Hajis to Islamabad in 40 flights.