The first flight touched down at the airport at 2:20 am in the night yesterday though it was scheduled to land at 11:15 pm on Wednesday. Dense fog deferred the landing, Biman sources said.

According to a Biman press release, the national flag carrier will operate 60 hajj flights until February 1 to bring back 27,482 pilgrims.

This year a total of 2,505 ballottee and around 48,000 non-ballottee hajj pilgrims went to Saudi Arabia to perform hajj.

Apart from Biman, other airlines including Saudi Arabian Airlines, Emirates and Gulf Air also ferried hajis this year, added the press release.