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Garuda flies 112.473 Hajj Pilgrims to the Holy Land, With Flight Accuracy of 90.88%
Garuda Indonesia on Saturday (20/10) completed the first phase of hajj pilgrims flights to the Holy Land.
The last flight group with Garuda (GA 8116), which brings a combination of hajj pilgrims from Lombok and Banjarmasin, landed in Jeddah on October 20 at 23:15 local time.
With the arrival of the last flight (GA 8116) in Jeddah, the 2012/1433H hajj pilgrimage season from September 21 - October 20, 2012, Garuda Indonesia has flown 112.473 candidates from 10 pilgrims embarkation to the Holy Land through 295 flight with average flight accuracy (on-time performance) of 90.88%.
The flight precision from Medan embarkation and Lombok even reach 100%.
Previously, the Hajj flight on 21 to 24 September 2012, hajj flight groups from Garuda Indonesia had been delayed due to the "missile launch" (a missile test) in India. Missile test made the hajj flight that used routes through the region of India, had to reroute the flights through Thailand and Myanmar, so it takes extra time up to an hour flight.
Once the hajj pilgrims performed have done the pray in Holy Land, the second phase/return flight to Indonesia will be held starting from 31 October to 1 December 2012. Especially for the pilgrims from Jakarta embarkation, direct flight from Medina to Jakarta will be held from 15 November to 1 December 2012.
Garuda Indonesia operates 15 aircraft consisting of a B 767-300ER aircraft, three B-747-400, and eleven A330 aircrafts for 2012 hajj flights.
Garuda Indonesia flight attendant is consists of 556 people of which 60% is derived from embarkation area’s cabin crew. The purpose of Garuda Indonesia cabin crew recruited from the embarkation areas are a part of Garuda Indonesia “service” to the flight attendance - especially to overcome communication barriers (language), since most the pilgrims are only capable to speak in their mother language.
In order to facilitate the public to get information about the schedule of departure and return of hajj flights, Garuda Indonesia also prepared www.haji-ga.com website, which is available for public access.
Garuda Also Flies Home Migrant Workers from Saudi Arabia
Meanwhile, according to Garuda Indonesia’s cooperation with the Ministry of Law and Human Rights, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Religious Affairs, Garuda also carrying 2.253 Indonesian workers who were subjected to residency period (overstayed) in Saudi Arabia using phase 1 hajj flight phase, which has just ended.
The numbers of Indonesian citizens who were subjected to overstay were about 2.253 people, and carried by seven flights between December 17 to 20 October 2012. The 2.253 citizens consist of 1,902 adults, 208 children, and 143 children under five.
Jakarta, October 21, 2012
PT. GARUDA INDONESIA (PERSERO) Tbk.
VP CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS
PUJOBROTO
