A Turkish flight, carrying 300 pilgrims, landed at Prince Muhammad bin Abdul Aziz International Airport in Madinah early Thursday as the first pilgrims to arrive in the holy city by air.Also, the first batch of 284 Thai pilgrims from the southern provinces of Thailand, led by Ismaae Alee, arrived in Jeddah over the weekend.According to director of the Haj Ministry branch in Madinah, Muhammad bin Abdul Rahman Al-Bijawi, the Turkish flight was followed by 51 Haj flights bringing the number of pilgrims who arrived in Madinah by air to about 15,000.

He told local daily Al-Watan that about 500,000 pilgrims were expected to arrive in Madinah by air for this year’s Haj. He said 400,000 pilgrims would be arriving by buses from Jeddah and Makkah while 80,000 were expected to come by land from neighboring countries.Airport director Abdul Fattah Atta said three lounges are in service to receive pilgrims coming from outside while a fourth is on hand to receive domestic arrivals. He said a new lounge for outside pilgrims would be operational from Tuesday.The Thai International Airways, which brought the Thai pilgrims to Jeddah, is operating 24 charter flights to the Haj Terminal this year. The batch is among 13,000 Thai Haj pilgrims coming for the annual pilgrimage.

Local Haj officials, including Zainee Banjar, division head of the Tawafa Establishment for Southeast Asian Pilgrims, and Thai officials including Anchalee Saifah, acting consul general of Thailand, and Haj Consul Halim Waenalai welcomed the pilgrims.The Thai government attaches utmost importance to Haj matters and takes special interest in making arrangements for the pilgrims heading for the pilgrimage. Most of the Thai pilgrims are from the southern part of Thailand, therefore, every year charter flights are arranged by the government to facilitate and transport them from Hadyai, Phuket, and Krabi airports, which are closer to their places of residence, Saifah said. “I am very happy with the arrangements made for the pilgrims by the local authorities. It’s my pride and honor to be part of the first group of pilgrims from Thailand this year, said Samarn Jehloh on behalf of the pilgrims.

The first group of African pilgrims for the upcoming Haj arrived at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah early Wednesday. The group consisted of 184 South Africans.Supervisor of the reception committee of the Tawafa Establishment for Non-Arab African Pilgrims Hani bin Hashim Nasser welcomed the pilgrims at the airport.Nasser said another 163 pilgrims would be arriving from South Africa Thursday, while a group of 38 pilgrims from the country arrived the same day in Madinah.