The first Hajj flight arrived at Bacha Khan International Airport in Peshawar with 275 pilgrims on board of a private airline here on Friday.

Airport Manager Zia Ahmed, along with hockey Olympian Rahim Khan, hockey Olympian Musadiq Hussain, and other officials, welcomed the pilgrims. Soon after arriving at the international arrival terminal at the Bacha Khan International Airport in Peshawar, pilgrims were garlanded with flowers.

According to officials, PIA’s post-Hajj operations will continue until July 21 to bring back over 35,000 pilgrims from Saudi Arabia through 171 flights. The flights will be operational for Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore, Multan, Sialkot, and Peshawar.

It is pertinent to mention here that the farewell Tawaf at the Grand Mosque in Makkah marked the end of the five-day communion with Allah Almighty at the holy sites of Mina, Arafat, and Muzdalifah from Zilhajj 8-12.

This year, around 160,000 Pakistanis performed the religious obligation under both the government and private Hajj schemes.

On the first day of a month-long post-Hajj flight operation, a batch of 1,723 Hajj pilgrims was scheduled to leave Makkah for different destinations in Pakistan, including Multan and Lahore.