The Parliamentary Committee on Religious Affairs Ministry at a recent meeting discussed the issue and recommended immediate steps to that end.

During the last pilgrimage, airfare for ballottees stood at US$ 870 while for non-ballottees at US$ 1,050.

The civil aviation ministry has raised the fare for ballotees at US$ 900 this year, but kept it the same for non-ballotees.

Meanwhile, the deadline for money deposit for pilgrimage in 2004 as ballotees has been extended till November 10 from October 30.

The National Hajj Management Committee at its meeting also decided to send a two-member high-level delegation to Saudi Arabia to arrange accommodations for the pilgrims. The final decision on housing arrangements and rent will be taken later.

The meeting also decided to arrange separate rooms for women pilgrims.

Ten thousand ballottees and 40, 000 non-ballottees will perform Hajj in 2004.

Sources said Bangladesh Biman would control the Hajj flights and no local private airlines would be allowed to ferry pilgrims between Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia.

During the last Hajj, Biman carried 25,103 of the 40,000 pilgrims, while Saudia carried the rest.

Biman hopes to carry more than 30,000 of about 50,000 pilgrims next year.

The airline now runs six DC-10s and three Airbuses and another Airbus is expected to join its fleet in a few days. Biman will reschedule its flights on international routes for smooth operation of Hajj flights.

It will run two extra flights from Chittagong, if need be, sources said.

Last year 10 direct flights took off for Jeddah from the port city.