LAHORE, Dec 16: PIA chairman Chaudhry Ahmad Saeed has said from now intending Umra pilgrims will be issued confirmed return tickets to save them from any hassle in Jeddah.

Talking to newsmen at the old airport terminal on Thursday, he said the decision had been taken on the complaints of the Umra pilgrims. Thousands of Umra pilgrims had faced problems while returning home because of non-confirmed tickets.

Mr Saeed said two senior officers posted in Jeddah had already been recalled in the wake of an inquiry in this regard. Action would be taken against more officials responsible for the mismanagement, he added. He hoped that issuance of confirmed return tickets from here would overcome such problems.

Giving details about the problems, Mr Saeed said the PIA did not have knowledge about the total number of visas issued by the Saudi embassy this year. The embassy issued about 300,000 visas to Pakistani Umra pilgrims this year that was far more than the number it used to issue annually. He said the airlines managed the travel of over 123,000 Umra pilgrims this year.

Besides, he said, the cut off date for visa issuance was Ramazan 15 but the embassy continued the process till 27th of the month. Answering a question, the chairman said Hujjaj would not face any problem during their journey as the whole programme was well planned.

Responding to another query, he said six more Boeing 777 would be included in the PIA fleet in two phases - first in 2006 and the other in 2008. Earlier, the chairman became furious and walked away when a reporter asked that his office here was established at a cost of Rs10 million.

"It is set up at a cost of Rs1 million, however, I will not reply if you put such questions. I don't care whatever you write," he replied. However, the public relations staff managed to control the situation.