401 pilgrims of the Nigerian Armed Forces and four officials landed safely in Saudi Arabia as the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), intensified the airlift of prospective Nigerian pilgrims to the Holy Land for this year’s Hajj exercise before the closure of Saudi’s airports.
The Armed Forces’ pilgrims, comprising 205 males and 196 females, departed Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Lagos on Sunday at 21:49pm with AZMAN flight ZU2364 and landed in King Abdulaziz International Airport, Jeddah yesterday before enroute straight to Madinah to perform the first phase of the hajj pilgrimage.
Also 459 pilgrims and 16 officials from Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and 386 of pilgrims of Kebbi States arrived Medinah yesterday on AERO flight NIG9037 and Flynas XY5620 respectively, bringing total number of Nigerians pilgrims in Saudi Arabia for 2023 Hajj exercise to 43,817.
According to the flight updates record from NAHCON’s command and control units, the pilgrims were airlifted to the Holy Land in 104 flights within the last 18 days of pilgrims airlift operations in Nigeria.
Five airlines including the Saudi-based Flynas, Max Air, Azman Air, Air Peace and Aero Contractor selected for the 2023 operations have deployed their full capacity to meet the June 20 deadline set by the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), to airlift all prospective Nigerian pilgrims to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia before the closure of the country’s airspace on June 26.
Further analysis of the update flight at NAHCON’s command and control unit revealed that 10 states have completed airlift of their pilgrims to Saudi Arabia.
The states are Ogun, Oyo, Kogi, Nasarawa, Benue, Plateau, Adamawa, Jigawa and Sokoto States.
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