All Egyptian Haj pilgrims will have to travel by air in 2011 as they did last year. “No Haj pilgrim will be traveling by sea this year,” Executive Chairman of the Egyptian Haj Mission Maj. Gen. Salah Hashim said. “The plan to ferry pilgrims by ship has been abandoned because no shipping company has come forward to ferry them to Saudi Arabia and back after the Egyptian Ministry of Interior invited bids for safe transportation of pilgrims by sea,” Hashim said.
The number of Egyptian pilgrims has been estimated at 90,000 this year. EgyptAir and Saudi Arabian Airlines are the companies authorised to transport Haj pilgrims this year, Hashim said.