Sylhet Bureau

The direct Hajj flight from Sylhet is starting on May 22. On that day at 3:30 pm, a flight of Biman carrying 419 pilgrims will leave Osmani International Airport for Madinah. Biman Bangladesh Air Lines District Manager Shahnewaz Majumdar confirmed the matter.

President of Hajj Agencies of Bangladesh (HUB) Sylhet Chapter and owner of Latif Travels, Zahirul Kabir Chowdhury Shiru said, considering the sufferings of pilgrims in Sylhet, we had directly demanded Hajj flights from Biman Bangladesh Airlines. In this regard, the hub made a written request to the aviation authority. Due to which Biman decided to operate 5 direct flights from Sylhet. As a result, more than two thousand pilgrims from Sylhet do not have to go to Dhaka. He mentioned that the suffering of pilgrims will be reduced to a great extent.

Biman's Sylhet office sources also said that keeping in mind the suffering of Hajj pilgrims in Sylhet region, it has been decided to operate 5 Hajj flights from Sylhet Osmani International Airport.

A total of 2 thousand 95 pilgrims will be transported by 419 people in 5 flights. Except for the first day flight, the rest of the flights will be operated on the Sylhet-Jeddah route.

These four flights are scheduled for June 1, 3, 6 and 9.

Former director of FBCCI and owner of Sipper Air Service Khandkar Sipper Ahmed thanked the concerned for deciding to operate 5 direct Hajj flights to meet the demands of Sylhet residents. He commented that if there is no disruption in the operation of the 5 scheduled flights by the aviation authorities, the coming and going of the pilgrims from the Sylhet region will be easier and safer.

President of Hub Sylhet Chapter Zahirul Kabir Chowdhury Shiru said that although the price of the package has decreased compared to last year, pilgrims have not increased much in Sylhet region this year. Hajj is becoming beyond the means of many due to the extra cost. This time 35 travel agencies in Sylhet region are struggling to fulfill the quota of pilgrims.

In situations that arise, two or three agencies jointly carry out Hajj registration under one name. In the end, the number of pilgrims from Sylhet has reached 3 thousand 251 people. In this context, he also said that the Hajj agencies of Sylhet region have not been able to fulfill their quota of pilgrims since several years before the corona epidemic. The number of pilgrims decreases due to various reasons including lack of awareness regarding pre-registration.

Incidentally, this year's Hajj flight is starting from Dhaka on May 9. The first flight with pilgrims from Dhaka will leave for Saudi Arabia on that day. Then the next flights will be released as per the schedule. This year 83 thousand 202 people will perform Hajj under government and private management.

Out of this, 4 thousand 307 people will go to government management and 78 thousand 895 people will go to private management. Hajj can be celebrated on June 16 subject to moon sighting.