The Royal Malaysian Air Force (RAMF) plans to mount nine daily flights from Egypt to Jeddah using three C-130 military transport aircraft to evacuate Malaysian students in the crisis-torn country, the mission's chief colonel Abdul Mutalib Wahab said.
   
He said the aircraft could carry up to 200 people in each flight, enabling the air force to evacuate up to 1,800 people a day.
   
The RMAF would carry evacuation flights at eight-hour intervals until the mission was completed, he said.
   
The air force started evacuation flights out of Cairo and Alexandria yesterday after resolving numerous issues, including landing rights at the two airports.
   
The first flight took off from Jeddah at 3.55pm local time and landed back at 7pm.
   
The mission's crewman was greeted on arrival by National Security Council director Mohamed Tajudeen Abdul Wahab and Malaysian Ambassador to Libya Dzulkepli Mohd Nor, the coordinator for the operation.
   
A total of 150 personnel were involved in the operation.
   
Meanwhile, Deputy Foreign Minister Senator Kohilan Pillay said the operation to evacuate Malaysians from Cairo today was on target, with at least 3,000 people evacuated daily.
   
- Bernama