Malaysia Airlines Begins Haj Flights

KUALA LUMPUR, July 24 (Bernama) -- Malaysia Airlines commenced haj charter operations Monday with its first direct flight to Madinah from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA). Flight MH8000 departed at 6.30 am and is scheduled to arrive in Madinah at 10 am (local time), it said in a statement Monday. Malaysia Airlines will operate 76 direct flights to Jeddah and Madinah, departing from Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu, Johor Bahru, Alor Setar, Kuala Terengganu and Penang, for this season. “The flights will utilise the A380-800 and A330-300 aircraft, each with a capacity of 483 and 287 seats, respectively. “For the convenience of passengers, Malaysia Airlines will also be providing domestic feeder flights to connect passengers from Johor Bahru, Penang, Kuala Terengganu, Alor Setar, Kota Bahru, Kota Kinabalu and Kuching to KLIA,” it said. The last haj flight will depart KLIA on Aug 26. Malaysia airlines said the second phase of the operations, from Saudi Arabia to Malaysia, would commence Sep 7 and be completed by Oct 4. -- BERNAMA