Home-bound hajj pilgrims of Biman Bangladesh Airlines are suffering at Jeddah airport due to flight delays.
Sources said Biman Bangladesh Airlines flights are experiencing delays by two to four hours at the airport, compounding the woes of the passengers.
Besides, the majority of the pilgrims are unaware of the on-board security checks, which is also causing flight delays.
A source in Jeddah said pilgrims have waited even for five hours to board flights. They came to the airport according to the schedule, only to know that flights would be delayed.
Biman officials, however, said flight delays on the first ten days were very normal and pilgrims of other countries experienced it as well.
“For Bangladeshi pilgrims, security checks at the airport added to their misery as they are mostly indifferent to it. They want to carry kitchen knives in their handbags. Sometimes they also attempt to carry artefacts which are not allowed in handbags,” Motahar Hossein, general manager of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
He said the security issue might be delaying flights but was not leading to any big trouble.
Biman officials said the Saudi Arabia government had for the first time arranged boarding facilities from the city, which is also creating problems.
Biman Bangladesh Airlines will be carrying around 50,000 pilgrims this year and the first return flight carrying 416 pilgrims arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport from Jeddah on Thursday afternoon. Biman will operate return flights till November 8 to bring back Bangladeshi hajj pilgrims, Motahar said.
The national flag carrier airline has allowed extra baggage for the hajj pilgrims on return flights. According to the offer, each pilgrim will be eligible to carry a maximum of 40 kilograms in the luggage and seven kilograms in the handbag.
Biman flights, beginning on August 27 and continued till September 28, carried a total of 50,329 pilgrims to Saudi Arabia, exceeding the airline’s target.
