First-ever all-female Indian flight carries Hajj pilgrims to Saudi Arabia

In a first, an Indian airline has exclusively flown an all-female crew and pilgrim passengers on a Hajj flight from Kerala to Saudi Arabia.

A flight of the Air India Express, which flew from Kozhikode, had reached Jeddah on Thursday night carrying 145 pilgrims on board, as per a report by Arab News.

The flight was steered by Captain Kanika Mehra and First Officer Garima Passi, while the passengers were cared for by four female members. Indian Minority Affairs State Minister John Barla, at the airport, handed over boarding passes to the flight's passengers. Meanwhile, Kerala Hajj Committee Chairman C Mohammed Faizi was "proud" of the achievement.

These female pilgrims are part of a group of 4,000 Indian women who will be undertaking the Hajj pilgrimage this year to the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah independently. This change comes after the Kingdom lifted the requirement for female pilgrims to be accompanied by a male guardian, leading India to modify its Hajj policy.

The majority of the Indian pilgrims in the "Ladies Without Mehram" category are from Kerala. Faizi stated that around 2,000 women from Kerala are participating without a male guardian, attributing this high number to the level of education in the state and the prevalence of women travelling to the Middle East to visit their relatives working there.

Kerala also has a higher percentage of female Hajj pilgrims compared to other Indian states, with 60% of the total pilgrims being women.

Kerala, with a population of 35 million, has a significant Muslim population constituting approximately one-fourth of the state's residents. Out of India's quota of 175,000, around 11,000 Muslims from Kerala will be performing the Hajj pilgrimage this year, and roughly 60% of them will be women.

The successful operation of this all-women Hajj flight marks a milestone in promoting gender equality and empowering women in religious journeys.