<div><b><span style="font-size: 1rem;">The first hajj flight, carrying 419 pilgrims, is scheduled to leave Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport for Saudi Arabia at around 3.20am on Sunday.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>"A Biman Bangladesh Airlines will operate the first hajj flight from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport to Jeddah on Sunday at 3.20am," Biman's spokesperson Tahera Khondoker told BSS.</div><div><br></div><div>Earlier, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday inaugurated the Hajj Programme-2023 (1444 Hijri) at the Hajji Office in the capital's Ashkona area.</div><div><br></div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>Before the Covid-19 pandemic, 127,198 pilgrims from Bangladesh performed hajj in 2019.</div><div><br></div><div>The Hajj is expected to be held on June 27 depending on the sighting of the moon. - UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>