EgyptAir operates 17 flights to carry 3.6K pilgrims to Jeddah, Medina

CAIRO - 4 August 2018: EgyptAir operates 17 flights on Saturday to carry a total of 3,675 Egyptian Muslims to Saudi Arabia's Mecca for performing pilgrimage ritual (Hajj) due to start in the third week of August.

Nine flights are scheduled to fly from Cairo and Sharm el Sheikh to Jeddah, while eight others will leave for Medina, stated the state-owned news agency MENA on Saturday.

It is scheduled that a total of 325 flights will carry 62,000 pilgrims to Saudi Arabia, including pilgrims from Mali and Palestine for the 2018 Hajj season.

EgyptAir began operating flights the pilgrims as of Wednesday, when pilgrims from both North and South Sinai arrived Jeddah International Airport. However, the first flight to Medina took off Thursday, carrying pilgrims from Giza and Port Said governorates, according to chairman of the national carrier company Sherif Ezzat.

The hajj, a five-day ritual which retraces the journey of Prophet Mohammad that took place 14 centuries ago, is a religious duty that should be carried out once in a lifetime for every able-bodied Muslim who can afford it.

It is the world's largest annual Muslim gathering, with over 2.3 million people attending this year. The faithful come from nearly every country in the world, speaking dozens of languages and sometimes practicing Islam in different ways based on local customs or traditions.