The first all-women Haj pilgrim batch left Calicut International Airport, Karipur, for Jeddah on Thursday evening. Air India Express flight IX 3035 left Karipur at 5.39 p.m. carrying 166 women pilgrims without a mahram or male companion.
As many as 3,410 women without mahram are travelling for Haj from Kerala this year. While 1,991 of them are flying out of Karipur, 832 will fly from Kochi and 587 from Kannur. As many as 12 all-women flights are scheduled from Karipur in the next four days.
Islamic scholar Ibrahim Baqavi led the prayer at the State Haj House for the first all-women batch that left on Thursday. Three all-women flights will leave for Jeddah on Friday. They will be at 12.05 a.m., 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.
So far, 1,494 pilgrims left for Jeddah from Kerala on nine flights. When 688 of them were men, 806 were women.
