Flight ops , No. 13, September-October 1975

              HAJ PILGRIMAGE 1975-76
back to the Holy City
These typical Moslem pilgrims, enroute to Jeddah in 1974 on a Pan Am 747, were described by their crews as the happiest, gentlest, easiest to care for passengers in the world. Their destination, the ancient city of Jeddah shown alongside, is a blend of new and old that easily accepts the many cultures of the pilgrims. The 1974-75 airlift of more than 54,000 of these pilgrims to Mecca aboard jets operated jointly by Pan Am and Iran Air was described as “a mammoth, high-speed mass transport miracle. ’ ’
Iran Air’s managing director, Lt. Gen. Ali Mohammed Khademi, said that the 1974-75 Haj operation was by far the smoothest, most problem-free charter to Mecca since Iran began offering the service over a decade ago. Carrying the bulk of those 54,000 pilgrims, Pan Am helped Iran Air meet its moral obligation of seeing that every pilgrim reached Jeddah on time to begin their solemn journey by foot to Mecca: under the leadership of Haj Project Director Frank D. Cassaniti, a remarkable 96% of the 138 Pan Am 747 flights departed on time.
“If you really want to see something,’’ said Frank Cassaniti, “you ought to see 453 pilgrims formed in a single line to board a 747 ... it seems like the line goes on forever, and it’s just hard to believe that they’re all going to fit into that big aluminum tube.” Reminiscing about last year’s first and hugely successful Pan Am participation in the Haj pilgrimage, “Cass” thumbed through his “Hajpodge” info file as he briefed the two-project directors who are going to command the Haj-birds this year. There are two of them this time because, as announced by Senior Vice President-Marketing and Services Dan Colussy on September 26, there will be an Indonesian operation with 707s as well as the renewed 747 operation out of Tehran. Merpati Nusantara Airlines has chartered three Pan Am 707s and crews to carry 10,000 Indonesian Moslems between Jakarta and Jeddah.
With the value of the Indonesian charter announced as $3 million, and the Iran charter as $3.5 million, this year Pan Am stands to more than double its involvement in the Haj charter: the number of passengers from Iran is expected to increase from 32,000 last year to 45,000 this year. With the same 0/453 configurations, two 747s will accomplish the added 13,000-passenger lift by making 100 trips each way instead of the 69 of last year. This will be done by starting earlier and ending later rather than by adding a third airplane. By comparison, transporting the 10,000 Indonesians from Jakarta to Jeddah and back will require 56 round trips in three 707s configured 0/182.	(continued)
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