The first two hajj flights, for this year’s programme, left for Jeddah with over 900 pilgrims, five hours behind the original schedule.Civil aviation minister G M Quader and religious affairs minister Shahjahan Miah saw the pilgrims off at Shahjalal International Airport. The first flight, under government management, took off with pilgrims around 3:45am on Saturday, on Bangladesh Biman.The second flight, under private management, took off about 45 minutes later.Biman’s deputy general manager Khan Mosharraf Hossain told bdnews24.com on Saturday morning that while the first hajj flight left at 3:44am, however, the flights will take off on time from now on.Flights carrying pilgrims from Bangladesh will continue up to Nov 11, and return flights will begin from Nov 21 and end on Dec 21.Earlier on Friday, a Biman Bangladesh Airlines press release disclosed rescheduling of the flights, stating the first aircraft would depart at 3am on Saturday instead of 10:40pm on Friday citing some inconveniences in flight preparation.Quader told reporters at the VIP Lounge that all preparations were taken to ensure safe and on-time passage for the pilgrims.On Thursday, prime minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated Hajj Camp-2010 at Ashkona.This year around 94,000 pilgrims are set to perform Islam’s holiest pilgrimage; last year there were 58,000 pilgrims. Aircraft from 10 airlines, including Saudi Arabian Airlines, will be carrying the passengers.