KLIA, 5 October 2017: Malaysia Airlines today, welcomed the arrival of Malaysian hajj pilgrims on its final flight for this year’s Hajj season. The 2017 Hajj operation was the largest in the company’s history with direct departures from six airports. The services ran without any delays in 2017 with strong co-operation from Tabung Haji, Malaysia Airports and Malaysia Airlines.
MH8325 departed King Abdulaziz International Airport, Jeddah on 4 October 2017 at 10:47pm (local time), and arrived KL International Airport at 12:44pm.
To make it easier for pilgrims to travel, Malaysia Airlines operated direct flights to Jeddah and Madinah, departing from Kuala Lumpur, Johor Bahru, Alor Setar, Kuala Terengganu and Penang. The flights were operated using both the Airbus A380-800 and A330-300 aircraft. In addition, domestic feeder flights operated by the B737-800 aircraft were also provided to connect passengers from Johor Bahru, Penang, Kuala Terengganu, Alor Setar, Kota Bahru, Kota Kinabalu and Kuching to KLIA.
According to Malaysia Airlines’ Chief Executive Officer, Peter Bellew, “It has been a remarkable opportunity for Malaysia Airlines’ to work together with Lembaga Tabung Haji, in providing comprehensive superior and comfortable ground and in-flight service for the pilgrims. The Hajj has been our number one priority in 2017 and has been a great success. This has been our largest operation to Saudi Arabia so far with minimal disruption and we thank Tabung Haji as well as the Malaysian and Saudi Governments for their cooperation in ensuring our flights took off on time.”
The first phase commenced on 24 July 2017 until 26 August 2017. The second phase movement started on 7 September 2017 and completed on the 4 October 2017.