16 January 2005	Sunday	05 Zilhaj 1425

KARACHI, Jan 15: Pakistan International Airlines completed on Saturday its pre-Haj flight operation, as the last flight, carrying 432 pilgrims, left here for Jeddah around 6:40am.

The national flag carrier flew over 150,000 pilgrims from across the country through 496 flights, which included 376 special Haj flights. PIA spokeswoman Samina Pervaiz told Dawn that the pre-Haj flight operation, which started from Dec 15, 2004, was conducted in a smooth manner as only six per cent of the total flights were delayed.

"Four per cent flights were delayed owing to weather constraints and only two per cent flights could not take off as per scheduled time due to technical and maintenance reasons", she added.

The spokeswoman said the national carrier operated 154 Haj flights from Karachi, 83 from Lahore, 75 from Islamabad, 71 from Peshawar, 50 from Multan, 36 from Quetta, 30 from Faisalabad and six from Sukkur.

The Haj Terminal manager of the Civil Aviation Authority, Mehmood Hussain, told Dawn that around 47,000 Hajis left for Jeddah from Karachi alone. "Of them, around 40,800 departed from the Haj terminal, while the remaining pilgrims boarded regular flights at the Jinnah Terminal of the Quaid-i-Azam International Airport," he said.

Mr Hussain said last year around 28,000 pilgrims were flown to Jeddah from Karachi airport by the national flag carrier. "However, this year the number swelled due to 11,000 transit pilgrims from Faisalabad, Mulatan and Sukkur", he added. Meanwhile, he said, the first flight carrying Hajis will reach here on Jan 25 from Jeddah.