Saudi Arabia’s Flynas airlines resumed flights for Iranian pilgrims heading to Mekkah for the first time in a decade.
On Sunday, at the Imam Khomeini airport in Tehran, Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to Iran, Abdullah Alanazi, received the first flight coming from Saudi Arabia to transport Iranian pilgrims to perform the hajj rituals.
“I am pleased to receive the first Flynas flight at the international al-Salam hall in Tehran”, said Alanazi on his X account.
The resumption of flights is the latest sign of warming ties between the two countries, after severed diplomatic ties back in 2016.
"Flynas resumed Iranian pilgrims flights from Imam Khomeini (airport) in Tehran on Saturday," a Saudi civil aviation authority official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The official said flights would also be added from Mashhad in Iran, allowing more than 35,000 pilgrims to travel to Saudi Arabia on the airline.
The official stressed that the flights were not commercial and were only for the hajj pilgrimage.
In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, a source who spoke on condition of anonymity said that Flynas “is the sole Saudi operator dedicated to transport pilgrims from Iran”, adding that daily flights would transport pilgrims from Tehran and Mashhad in Iran.
Iranian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Alireza Enayati, said in remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat that the Saudi carrier is going to transport part of the pilgrims from Tehran and Mashhad.
He said the move “will bolster and strengthen relations between the two countries” and will give their people an opportunity to get acquainted with each other’s nations.
The hajj is due to begin during the first week of June, and pilgrims from across the globe have already begun pouring into Saudi Arabia.
