LONDON – On the 6th of July 2022, AMAL, owned by Malaysia Airlines, successfully transported 8,500 Hajj and Umrah Pilgrimage members from Malaysia to Saudi Arabia.
These flights were conducted from the 6th of June to the 5th of July 2022. The Malaysian flag carrier is no stranger to conducting such flights as Malaysia, a Muslim majority country that has strong ties with Saudi Arabia.
The last batch of 283 pilgrims was successfully transported on Tuesday the 5th of July, to Jeddah Airport, Saudi Arabia on board Malaysia Airlines flight MG8016 which took off from Kuala Lumpur at 3.10 PM.
Before the departure of the final batch carrying Hajj pilgrims, the event was met by Malaysia’s heavyweight. This includes Malaysia’s Senior Minister of Defence, Dato’ Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein, and top officials who were involved in the operations of the flight that sent pilgrims off to Saudi Arabia at the departure gate.
The send-off ceremony is seen as significant since this is the first-ever large-scale Hajj event since the pandemic.
Muhammad Najmi Mansor Chief Operations Officer of Amal by Malaysia Airlines said with great excitement: It’s an honor to be able to serve Hajj pilgrims this year after two years of a halt due to the pandemic and border closure.”
“To ensure a seamless operation for the pilgrims, we have worked with various stakeholders including government agencies and key industry partners in numerous roundtable discussions and conferences prior to this day.”
“We are grateful for the unwavering support of key players since day one, as well as the implementation of the Makkah Route program, which aims to speed up pilgrim travel from Malaysia by performing Saudi immigration procedures at KLIA.”
“We hope to continue the tradition for the benefit of pilgrims and be consistent with our goal of providing the best of Malaysian Hospitality to the pilgrims through unique pilgrim-centric services including miqat announcements, talbiah, doa Musafir, azan, and tazkirah as well our well-trained crew and ground workers to ensure a complete pilgrimage experience from the moment passengers board the flight.
As has been mentioned, Malaysia Airlines is no stranger to conducting such flights to Saudi Arabia. At one time before the pandemic, the A380-800 of Malaysia Airlines was used for Hajj flights. Long gone were the days of A380 operations.
For this year’s season, Amal has accumulated 30 successful and smooth flights between Kuala Lumpur and Jeddah, and also Medinah using Malaysia Airlines’ workhorse, the A330-300 aircraft.
In addition to using the A330 aircraft, Boeing 737s, the airline’s narrow-body workhorse, also conducted 24 feeders flights within Malaysia to connect pilgrims to Kuala Lumpur. Feeder destinations include the majority of domestic destinations in Malaysia: Alor Setar, Pulau Pinang, Johor Bahru, Kota Bharu, Kota Kinabalu, Kuching, and Kuala Terengganu.
After a successful first phase, the second phase will shortly begin from the 19th of July 2022 to the 14th of August.
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