First Haj Flight of this year is all set to leave Mangalore International Airport on July 17

July 15: This year’s First Haj flights under the aegis of Karnataka State Haj Committee is all set to leave from Mangalore International Airport (MIA) for Medina on July 17.
This year’s Haj flights mark the decennial year of move by the Union government to start this facility for Muslims who undertake this pilgrimage from this coastal city and third year of direct flights to Medina and Jeddah.
The first Haj flight was inaugurated by Ex-minister for external affairs S M Krishna on October 25, 2009 and since then more than 6000 have undertaken the Haj pilgrimage from Mangalore.
For the current Haj season, 750 Muslims from Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Chikkamagaluru, Hassan and Kodagu will undertake Haj and they will depart in five different flights scheduled to depart from Mangalore International Airport for Medina on three days starting July 17. The pilgrims will return to Mangalore in batches from August 31 to September 2 via Jeddah.
Mangalore Haj Management Committee has organised Haj camp for the 750 pilgrims at Ansar School at Bajpe where pre-embarkation procedure including luggage check-in, immigration check will start from July 15.