Karachi, May 12, 2024, The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has launched the Makkah Route Initiative in Pakistan at Jinnah International Airport in Karachi. This is the second airport in Pakistan to benefit from the initiative, which is part of Saudi Arabia's expansion plans to serve pilgrims.
The Chairman of the Supervisory Committee of Makkah Route Initiative and Director General of Passports, Lieutenant General Sulaiman bin Abdulaziz Al-Yahya, the Governor of Sindh Province, Muhammad Kamran Khan Tessori, and the Saudi Ambassador to Pakistan, Nawaf bin Saeed Al-Maliki, attended the ceremony.
The Makkah Route Initiative aims to provide high-quality services to pilgrims from beneficiary countries to the Kingdom. These services include issuing electronic Hajj visas and taking biometric data, completing entry procedures into the Kingdom from the departure airport, verifying health requirements, coding and sorting luggage, and arranging transportation and accommodation in Makkah and Madinah. Dedicated routes have been set up for buses to transport pilgrims to their accommodations while partner agencies take care of delivering their luggage.
The Makkah Route Initiative is one of the initiatives of the Ministry of Interior within the Pilgrim Experience Program, which is part of the Kingdom's Vision 2030. It continues to be implemented for the sixth year in cooperation with the ministries of foreign affairs, health, Hajj and Umrah, and media, the General Authority of Civil Aviation, the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority, the Saudi Data and AI Authority, and the Pilgrim Experience Program to enhance the Hajj journey.
