Air travel between India and the Kingdom

        The Saudi Arabian Airlines plays a dominant role in transporting pilgrims from India to the Kingdom. Air India, which has been traditionally entrusted with the responsibility of transporting pilgrims from India to Saudi Arabia with Chartered Flights, now transports about 50% of our pilgrims.  All the pilgrims are allotted their flights in India even for the return phase and should be advised to stick to the flights allotted. Pilgrims must come and return by the allotted flight only. Coming to Saudi Arabia on an ‘out-of-turn’ or on a different flight upsets the management and administration at the Saudi Arabian end and causes inconvenience to all. Any request for change in the outbound flight also may result in disturbing the delicate balance of the Haj management.

       However on the basis of genuineness Indian Mission does try to re-adjust flight schedule for the pilgrims. But one thing should be clearly informed to the pilgrims that it may not be possible always to change the flight schedule. The difficulty is more for the Pilgrims travelling on the Saudi Arabian Airlines. It is also not possible to switch over between Saudi Arabian Airlines and Air India or to change the sector.

During the flight, pilgrims must fill in the Immigration Forms, which are given by the air crew. These are required by the Saudi authorities once the pilgrims reach the kingdom. The help of fellow passengers or the flight crew can be taken if forms cannot be filled by the pilgrims themselves. Keep this filled up forms inside the pilgrim pass so that immigration is cleared quickly after landing at Madinah or Jeddah as the case may be. The pilgrim pass, immigration card and meningitis certificate should be kept with the pilgrim. Ladies and gentlemen will be separated at immigration and, therefore, each person should have the documents and papers in his/her own custody.

          While disembarking at the Madinah airport or Jeddah Haj Terminal, the crew will give an extra food packet. This is for consumption while waiting at the Haj Terminal holding area for the buses that are to transport pilgrims to Makkah or Madinah as the case may be.   It may take upto 2 hours at the Madinah airport and upto 4-5 hours at Jeddah Haj Terminal to complete formalities before boarding the bus for onward journey to buildings in Madinah and Makkah respectively. It may take 2 more hours to reach Makkah from Jeddah Haj terminal. 

After deplaning at Jeddah, pilgrims are brought to the waiting hall and from here they are taken in small batches, separately for men and women, to the immigration hall.  In the waiting hall, there are toilets which can be used.  In the immigration hall if the immigration card is filled properly there will be no problem in swift clearance.  At the airport itself the Mission staff pastes on pilgrim passes details about the pilgrims, his accommodation cover number etc.

          In Madinah the pilgrims are taken straight away to their designated accommodation, which may take 1-2 hours.  The passports are collected by representatives of the United Agents Office and returned at the time of departure to Makkah.