Govt accepting last minute haj bookings

JAKARTA (JP): The government is still accepting reservations for people intending to join this year's haj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, a spokesman for the Ministry of Religious Affairs said yesterday.

Registration officially closed last January, but some spaces are still available due to last minute cancellations and also because the government has expanded capacity to 160,000 pilgrims this year, instead of 155,000 as originally planned.

Through yesterday, a total of 159,515 people have registered with the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

The first flight for pilgrims is scheduled to depart Halim Perdanakusuma airport in Jakarta on April 15.

The pilgrims will be transported on 362 flights from Halim Perdanakusuma, Juanda airport in Surabaya (East Java), Polonia airport in Medan (North Sumatra), and Hasanuddin airport in Ujungpandang (South Sulawesi). The last group will leave on May 13.

This year's pilgrimage will set yet another record, and represents a major leap from the 124,000 participants last year.

The Ministry of Religious Affairs is coordinating the travel and accommodation arrangements as well as providing guides for the pilgrims.

This year the all-inclusive fee for the journey to Mecca is Rp 6,900,000 (US$3,231.85) per person.

Flag carrier Garuda Indonesia has prepared 19 planes to carry all the pilgrims, including 17 aircraft it has leased from Qantas Australia, Air New Zealand, Singapore Airlines, Air France, Phoenix Airways, World Airways from the U.S and Finnair.

The Indonesian pilgrimage this year will be headed by Harmoko, the Minister of Information and also chairman of the ruling political grouping Golkar, who will join the first group.

The haj day itself is slated for May 21.

Once the pilgrimage is completed, the government has to fly all the Indonesian pilgrims home, which requires another massive operation. (01)