King Abdulaziz International Airport and the Jeddah Islamic Port are the two principal points through which pilgrims enter and leave the Kingdom after performing Haj. Because of the two points’ nearness to Makkah, about 70 percent of pilgrims coming from outside the Kingdom arrive and depart through them. It is customary to make a special reception for the first group of pilgrims arriving by air, land and sea. The following is the lowdown on the procedures that await pilgrims on arrival at the airport:

1. The pilgrim is taken to a holding bay/waiting area immediately after he or she lands at the airport.

2. Maktab Al-Wukala staff (also known as handling agents) attach a set of 10 bar codes to his or her passport. This is a unique code for each pilgrim.

3. The pilgrim goes through health checks. He or she is checked for swine flu and temperature is taken.

4. The pilgrim is taken to the immigration counter and gets fingerprinted and photographed. The bar code is electronically attached to his or her visa and passport details. One of the 10 bar codes is pasted near the Saudi visa sheet. The other nine stickers are used by other Haj agencies.

5. The Haji then goes to the luggage area and proceeds through customs.

6. Once the pilgrim is out, the next step is to go to the Haj Ministry counter. They take another bar code sticker to help ascertain how many pilgrims have arrived in the country at any given time.

7. The pilgrims collect bus tickets from the Maktab Al-Wukala counter for their onward journey to Makkah and/or Madinah.

8. Now just two steps away from leaving the airport, the pilgrim waits for the Transport Syndicate to announce the buses’ departure to Makkah. The transport of pilgrims to Makkah and Madinah is provided by two main bodies: the General Car Syndicate and the Office of Guides. Representatives from the United Agents’ Office will guide the pilgrims to their buses, which take them to the Pilgrims’ Grouping Center near Makkah. According to a decision by the Council of Ministers in 2001, an office to provide guidance for the pilgrims’ buses was established. The decision made it obligatory for the office to provide guides in each bus until it reaches the specified Tawafa establishment which is providing services to pilgrims. The Office of Guides is staffed by 516 individuals. The General Car Syndicate has 19,500 buses this year to provide transport for pilgrims between Jeddah, Makkah, the Holy Sites and Madinah. Of these, 340 new buses costing SR136 million are in service for the first time. The vehicles transporting pilgrims are monitored electronically through GPS so that their exact locations are known in order to provide help if required.

9. The pilgrim boards one of the buses assisted by his country’s Haj mission staff. They ensure pilgrims belonging to one particular Haj organizer are grouped together.

10. Once on the bus, the pilgrims hand over their passports to their guide, who leaves them with the Tawafa Establishment or muallim once he arrives at Makkah or Madinah. The passport stays with the muallim during the rest of the pilgrim’s stay in Saudi Arabia.