108,599 pilgrims to fly with Garuda

JAKARTA: National flag-carrier PT Garuda Indonesia will carry a total of 108,599 Indonesian Muslims to Saudi Arabia for the haj pilgrimage.

The airline said in a statement on Monday that it would carry the pilgrims to Jeddah from seven airports -- Solo, Jakarta, Makassar, Banjarmasin, Medan, Balikpapan and Banda Aceh -- from Tuesday until Jan. 26, 2004.

It will take the pilgrims home from Feb. 6 to March 5.

For the current haj pilgrimage, Garuda will deploy 17 wide- bodied planes, including an A-330 owned by Garuda and 16 A-330 and B-767 planes leased from foreign airlines, including Air Atlanta, My Travel and Britannia.

Garuda will deploy 730 cabin crew to work on the haj flights, including 186 staff from Garuda and 544 workers hired specially for the occasion. -- JP