JAKARTA: The first group of more than 1,500 Indonesian pilgrims will depart for Saudi Arabia under the Makkah Route initiative next week, as 221,000 are expected to take part in this year’s Hajj.

In 2025, the Hajj is expected to take place on June 4 and end on June 9.

Though the pilgrimage itself can be performed over five or six days, many pilgrims arrive early to make the most of the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fulfill their religious duty.

“Indonesian pilgrims will start departing on May 2, and this will be our first batch,” Hilman Latief, director general of Hajj and Umrah management at the Ministry of Religious Affairs, told Arab News.

“Some of them are still in the visa processing stage, but we are optimistic that their visas will be issued before their departure … we hope that the Hajj journey this year can go smoothly, and that our pilgrims will have a comfortable and safe trip.”

Indonesia, the world’s biggest Muslim-majority nation, sends the largest Hajj contingent of pilgrims every year to perform the spiritual journey that is one of the five pillars of Islam.

Its first Hajj flights are scheduled to depart from the cities of Jakarta, Surabaya and Solo, where Indonesian pilgrims will be facilitated under Saudi Arabia’s Makkah Route initiative.

Launched in Muslim-majority countries in 2019, the program allows Hajj pilgrims to fulfill all visa, customs and health requirements in one place, at the airport of origin, and save long hours of waiting before and upon reaching the Kingdom.

When they arrive in Saudi Arabia, Indonesians will be assisted by more than 4,000 Hajj officers who are stationed in Jeddah, Madinah and Makkah.

Each batch will have four officers, including medics, helping them at all times, said Nasrullah Jasam, who heads the Indonesian Hajj Organization Committee in Saudi Arabia.

“On the ground, the officers are also divided into various sectors. They are tasked to serve the pilgrims with things related to accommodation, transportation and food,” Jasam told Arab News.

“Our Hajj officers have undergone the technical guidance in Jakarta and are now preparing for the same in Saudi Arabia … we are ready.”