GARUDA TO USE 14 WIDE-BODIED PLANES TO CARRY HAJJ PILGRIMS

Banten, Nov 5 (ANTARA) - Garuda Indonesia will use 14 wide-bodied planes to carry a total of 107,456 hajj pilgrims in 302 flight batches to Saudi Arabia during the 2008/2009 hajj season.
"The planes consist of four B-747s, seven B-767s and three A-330s," PT Garuda Indonesia Corporate Secretary Pujobroto said on Wednesday.
On Wednesday Garuda started transporting Indonesian Muslims to the Holy Land to perform hajj pilgrimage during the 2008/2009 hajj season.
The first batch of the Indonesian hajj pilgrims travelling on Garuda plane is expected to return home on January 2009.
In the 2008/2009 hajj season, Garuda will carry 107,456 hajj pilgrims from nine embarkation points in the country. The hajj pilgrims are divided into 302 flight batches, namely 14 flight batches from the Banda Aceh embarkation point, 27 from the Padang embarkation point, 28 from the Palembang embarkation point, 49 from the Jakarta embarkation point, 83 from the Solo embarkation point, 22 from the Surabaya embarkation point, 17 from the Banjarmasin embarkation point, 20 from the Balikpapan embarkation point and 42 from the Makassar embarkation point.
Islam obliges its followers who can afford it to perform hajj pilgrimage once during their life time.