Hajj flights to continue from Kotoka

About eight flights are expected to airlift Hajj pilgrims from the Kotoka International Airport to Saudi Arabia over the next few days.

This follows the airlifting of over 1,000 pilgrims from the Tamale airport, after the initial challenges.

According to the Public Relations Officer of the Hajj Board, Abdulai Rahman Alhassan Gomda, all necessary preparations have been made to airlift the remaining pilgrims in Accra to Mecca for this year's Hajj.

“We earlier on announced six flights from Tamale but upon checking the numbers, we realized we could do with five flights, especially now that we have jumbo jets joining,” he said to Citi News.

The first batch of pilgrims, numbering 435, for the 2017 Hajj pilgrimage left the Tamale Airport for Saudi Arabia on the evening of August 11.

The arrangements were not without hitches as the originally scheduled flight to Saudi Arabia on Thursday, August 10 was postponed.

The Hajj Board, at the time, came out to say the affected plans were as a result of hitches on the air carrier’s end.

“It was a hitch on the part of the airline. It wasn't deliberate on their part because the aircraft, according to the Vice President, 45 minutes into its trip to Tamale, developed a technical hitch as a result of which it had to return for the replacement of the aircraft, which rather took too long. That was the cause of the hitch,” Alhassan Gomda explained.

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By: Farida Shaibu/citifmonline.com/Ghana