BA increases capacity to repatriate stranded pilgrims

BA increases capacity to repatriate stranded pilgrims

Airline to increase capacity on Jeddah-London route in bid to clear the backlog of pilgrims performing Umrah who were grounded following the ash cloud flight disruptions.

April 26, 2010 9:16 by Ben Flanagan

Jeddah, KSA. 26 April 2010: British Airways has upped its efforts to help pilgrims who have been left stranded in Saudi Arabia by the volcanic ash incident.

The airline announced that it will be increasing capacity on four of its Jeddah services this week to London Heathrow on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday in a bid to clear the backlog of pilgrims performing Umrah who were grounded following flight disruptions. This is part of a wider plan by British Airways to accommodate customers stranded after the six-day closure of UK airspace. They are also advising customers to register using a webform on ba.com to accelerate rebooking an earlier flight, where further flights are being operated, and to help BA identify where extra capacity is needed. Alternatively, customers can contact us through our call centre in Saudi Arabia.

Paolo De Renzis, British Airways’ Area Commercial Manager, Middle East said, “We are doing everything we can to help bring stranded pilgrims back home as quickly as possible after this unprecedented situation. This is why we are planning extra operations from a variety of destinations, and we hope to add additional capacity into the schedule where it is needed.

“Our absolute priority is to get as many customers back home as soon as we can. Customers should continue to use ba.com for the latest flight information and to check-in online for their flights,” added De Renzis.

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About British Airways

British Airways has a worldwide route network that covers more than 150 destinations in 75 countries.

British Airways has been operating flights to the Middle East for almost 78 years emphasising its long-term commitment to the region.

British Airways currently operate 57 weekly flights from eight Middle East markets to London Heathrow. This includes daily services to Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait and Abu Dhabi, ten weekly services to Saudi Arabia and twelve weekly services to Dubai International.

British Airways operates from Terminal 5 at London Heathrow. The state-of-the-art Terminal 5 is exclusive to the airline’s customers and is capable of handling 30 million customers a year.

For further information on British Airways visit www.ba.com