AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): The CEO of Iran Air said the airline will operate two daily flights to carry Iranian Umrah pilgrims to Saudi Arabia.
Shamseddin Farzadipour the flights will be operated from seven airports across the country, the website of Iran’s Ministry of Roads and Urban Development reported.
He added that Iran Air is fully prepared to operate flights to take Iranian passengers to the Land of Revelation.
Dispatching Iranian Umrah pilgrims to Saudi Arabia is planned to commence on Wednesday, January 4, concurrent with the birth anniversary of Hazrat Zahra (SA).
The flights will be operated from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran as well as airports in the cities of Mashhad, Shiraz, Isfahan, and Yazd, among others.
A total of 64,000 Iranians are scheduled to make the Umrah pilgrimage before the start of the holy month of Ramadan (March 12), according to Iran’s Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization.
Some 5.7 million Iranians are in line waiting for their turn to take part in Umrah pilgrimage.
Umrah differs from Hajj in that the latter is a lengthier visit which is done once a year and performed once in a lifetime by able-bodied Muslims who can afford it.
Iran stopped sending Umrah pilgrims to Saudi Arabia after two Iranian teenage boys were harassed in an airport in the Saudi city of Jeddah in March 2015.
That came nearly a year before the two countries cut their diplomatic relations.
Iran and Saudi Arabia re-established diplomatic ties in March 2023 through a China-mediated agreement, marking a significant development after severing relations in 2016.
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