NAHCON Begins Airlift of Pilgrims to Saudi Arabia June 9

*Signs agreement with three airines

Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja

The airlifting of Nigerian pilgrims to this year’s Hajj in Saudi Arabia will commence on June 9 from Maiduguri, Borno State.

The spokesperson of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) Fatima Sanda Usara said in statement Friday.

She said the commission’s advance team will depart for Saudi Arabia on June 6.

The statement further stated that NAHCOM has also signed Hajj airlift agreement with three airlines.

The airlines are Max Air, Azman Air and FlyNas. The agreement was signed Friday with the airlines by the commission’s Chairman, Alhaji Zikrullah Kunle Hassan.

FlyNas is based in Saudi Arabia while the other two are local airlines, satisfying the airlift quota sharing formular between the host country and other Hajj participating countries.

Seven airlines including Max Air, FlyNas, Azman Air, Med-View Airline, Skypower Express, Westlink Airlines and Arik Air applied for the slots.

After the exercise, those selected ranked the best three whose names were forwarded to the presidency for approval before sealing the contract agreement.

States allocated to specific airlines are as follows: Max Air is to fly pilgrims from 13 states namely-Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Katsina, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau and Taraba. Azman Air is entrusted with conveyance of pilgrims from 16 states and the Armed Forces. The states are Kano, Abia, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Enugu, Imo, Kaduna, Ogun, Ondo, Rivers, and Yobe. Meanwhile, FlyNas would fly pilgrims from Edo, FCT- Abuja, Lagos, Osun, Oyo, Sokoto, Kebbi, and Zamfara- making eight states.

The NAHCON chairman has also presented a formal request for additional hajj slots to the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Hajj and Umrah.

Out of the 43,008 slots allocated to Nigeria, 71 percent went to states’ pilgrims, 21 per cent to Licensed Tour Operators, and eight per cent for medical officials, security, aviation industry and other pilgrims’ assistants.