Saudi civil aviation authority to provide improved Hajj luggage services

Muslim pilgrims arrive at Jeddah airport in the Saudi capital on July 14,2018. (AFP)

• The initiative will make it more convenient for pilgrims to travel and perform Hajj in the coming years
• Saudi authorities also gave pre-departure immigration facility to pilgrims from a number of countries, including Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: After managing the world’s largest multicultural religious event involving more than 2.4 million Muslims from 130 countries, Saudi Arabia has taken a new initiative to offer improved Hajj luggage services to pilgrims.
According to a report published by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) on Saturday, the initiative will begin its pilot phase within the next two days and will automatically organize luggage logistics before worshippers arrive at the airport.
The president of the Kingdom’s General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA), Abdulhadi Al Mansouri, said the idea behind the plan was to improve pilgrims’ services by reducing waiting times at King Abdul Aziz International Airport in Jeddah and Prince Mohammed bin Abdul Aziz International Airport in Madinah.
He added that the initiative would serve about 30,000 pilgrims in the first phase at the airports in Jeddah and Madinah. After this phase was completed, the service would expand to all pilgrims in airports throughout the country.
The Kingdom already extended a pre-departure immigration facility to pilgrims belonging to different countries, including Pakistan, under its ‘Road to Makkah’ program. It also deployed hundreds of young individuals who spoke different languages to assist people from various parts of the world at its airports in Makkah and Madinah.
Saudi Arabia also launched a number of cellphone apps to help pilgrims find emergency service centers, holy sites, currency exchange rates, restaurants and accommodations. Apart from that, it made it easier for people performing Hajj to carry Zamzam water back to their countries.
The new luggage facility at this stage will help people from Indonesia, India and Malaysia, according to the SPA report. It is also likely to make things more convenient for pilgrims to traveling to the Kingdom and performing Hajj in the coming years.