Flynas has temporarily welcome the Airbus A380 to its fleet as it begins to welcome Hajj pilgrims to Saudi Arabia.

The low-cost carrier thus becomes the first airline from the country to fly the largest passenger plane in the world.

The airline expects to receive around 200,000 pilgrims from 17 countries over the coming weeks.

The first flights, carrying Malaysian pilgrims from Kuala Lumpur, arrived earlier at King Abdulaziz Airport in Jeddah.

Passengers are also expected at Prince Mohammed bin Abdulaziz in Madinah.

Bandar Al-Muhanna, flynas chief executive, said he was proud to be serving Hajj pilgrims.

He pointed out that flynas has leased 13 wide-body planes for the season, including the A380, Boeing 747, Boeing 767 and, for the first time, an Airbus A330neo.

Al-Muhanna added that pilgrims arriving on these flights will benefit from the ‘Makkah Road’ initiative.

The plan aims to complete passport procedures for pilgrims in their origin country in order to reduce their waiting time at passport control counters in Saudi.

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Flynas has been recognised as the Middle East’s Leading Low-cost Airline by voters at the World Travel Awards for the past five years.