The first hajj flight, carrying 415 pilgrims, left Dhaka for Saudi Arabia early Sunday.
It took off from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) around 3:20am (Bangladesh time) and was scheduled to land in Jeddah at 7:20am (local time).
Earlier at 12:30am, State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Md Mahbub Ali and State Minister for Religious Affairs Md Faridul Haque Khan inaugurated the flight at the Concourse Hall of HSIA’s Terminal-2.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday inaugurated the Hajj Programme-2023 (1444 Hijri) at the Hajj camp in the capital's Ashkona area.
This year, a total of 122,221 pilgrims from Bangladesh are going to perform the holy hajj. The number of hajj pilgrims from Bangladesh was 57,585 last year due to Covid-19 restriction.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, 127,198 pilgrims from Bangladesh performed hajj in 2019.
The Hajj is expected to be held on June 27 depending on the sighting of the moon.