The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), will complete the airlift of all Nigerian registered pilgrims whose visa has been procured by their states on or before midnight of June 21st, Hajj Reporters can reveal
A revised flight schedule seen by HAJJ REPORTERS indicates that Azman Airline will from tomorrow June 16th begin a back-to back flights from Kaduna to Madina with a flight capacity of 400 pilgrims per trip.
We also gathered that Saudi based Flynas will complete the transportation of its allotted pilgrims by 21st June, while Aero Contractors is rounding up with a directive to rescue additional 1,300 pilgrims from Kaduna in the next 3 days.
An inside source who spoke to HAJJ REPORTERS said “All this while, Azman was having challenges in securing landing slots at Prince Muhammad Ibn Abdul Aziz International Airport in Madina but NAHCON was able to come in and resolve the issue by settling all the outstanding financial obligations of the airline and I can tell you that AZMAN has now secured landing slots starting from 16th of June with the last trip slated for 22nd of June”.
A landing permit document with application code ZUNGAH144402 seen by HAJJ REPORTERS showed that AZMAN has been cleared to land on the 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th 21st and 22nd at Madina airport.
Currently, Kaduna has about 4,000 pilgrims that are yet to be transported to Saudi Arabia. Azman will airlift 400 pilgrims per trip totaling 2, 800 using the 7 landing slots secured.
The revised flight schedule shows that Aero Contractors will rescue additional 1,300 pilgrims in the next 2 days from Kaduna meaning that all Kaduna pilgrims with visa and approved by NAHCON will be airlifted by 21st of June 2023.
Flynas Airline is set to complete the evacuation of its pilgrims on 21st of June while Max Air is scheduled to finish airlifting the remaining 1,200 Katsina and about 3, 900 Kano pilgrims on or before 19th of June. Recently, Max air added an additional Aircraft with registration number 5N-BBN to the two Boeing 747 already.
The initial flight schedule obtained by HAJJ REPORTERS indicates that NAHCON and Hajj carriers had earlier pinned 18 June as last date to airlift of all State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Boards Pilgrims with last flights that will carry all the officials slated for 20th June 2023.
Our sources said the challenges of securing slots, delay in securing visa caused by financial bureaucracies compelled NAHCON and Hajj carriers to work out a revised flights schedule.
