Almost 2 million Muslims have gathered in Saudi Arabia for Hajj – the annual pilgrimage to Mecca that takes place this year 24-29th Nov 2009.

Thomas Cook Airlines have been contracted by Garuda Indonesia to help transport over 114,000 pilgrims to Saudi Arabia and fly them back home. All Thomas Cook flights are planned and dispatched from their UK Flight Ops department in Manchester using the BYTRON skybook.aero service that enables internet communication with flight crew. Crews can log on to receive and up-to-the-minute flight pack including weather, fuel & navigation plans, ETOPS route plots and operational notes with updates available via mobile phones such as the Apple iPhone.

David Marks – BYTRON’s Business Development Manager said – “skybook.aero centralises core systems providing improvements in the information supply chain that contributes to better crew and aircraft management. A huge benefit for remote operations is that crews are briefed to exactly the same company standard, directly from Ops HQ. Nothing is lost in translation or missed in a pigeon-hole, leading to greater efficiencies and better on-time-performance.”

Operations began October 23rd 2009 and repatriation is expected to be completed January 1, 2010.