Jakarta. The special terminal for umrah pilgrims at the Soekarno Hatta International Airport is expected to start operating later this month.

The Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in the world’s largest Muslim majority country is in the process of assigning its Terminal 2F specifically for umrah pilgrims. For reference, umrah is the minor pilgrimage made by Muslims to Mecca at any time of the year.

According to State-Owned Enterprise Minister Erick Thohir, the terminal will have the facilities that the pilgrims need.

“Between 1.3 million and 1.5 million Indonesians go on umrah each year. Those are huge numbers. That’s why we need to make some improvements [on the facilities]. This terminal will have a mosque, a place for manasik [pilgrimage rehearsal], and a comfortable lounge,” Erick said after inspecting the airport on Wednesday.

Faik Fahmi, the president director at the airport operator Angkasa Pura II, the Terminal 2F aimed to prevent crowding in Terminal 3 international departure point.

“We will make sure that all facilities will be ready by the end of this month. So the umrah pilgrims can feel more comfortable when they use Terminal 2F,” Faik said.

The Soekarno-Hatta airport sees 150,000 people exiting and leaving each day, according to Faik.

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