Three days after the commencement of 2023 Hajj airlift in Nigeria, no fewer than 2,996 pilgrims have been transported to Saudi Arabia by the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON).
Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari represented by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Amb. Zubairu Dada, had on Thursday, May 25, 2023, flagged the 2023 airlift operation at the Pilgrims Terminal of Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja with 472 pilgrims from Nasarawa State and 27 officials of NAHCON aboard the inaugural flight, Max Air, to Medina, Saudi Arabia.
The flight updates record from NAHCON’s command and control units indicated that on Friday, May 26, the second batch of pilgrims departed from Bauchi State on MaxAir flight NGL1001 bound for Jeddah with a total of 549 pilgrims from Plateau State, comprising 339 males and 210 females boarding the flight.
Also on Friday, ero Contractor flight NIG9005 departed from Abuja to Madinah, transporting 450 pilgrims from Nasarawa State and 13 officials. The pilgrims on Aero Contractor flight were 275 males and 175 females. This marked the third flight and brought the total number of Pilgrims airlifted to 1,471.
A further review of the flight updates at NAHCON’s command and control unit revealed that a Saudi Arabian airline, Flynas flight XY5730 and Flynas flight XY5600 departed from Sokoto State on Saturday to Madinah with 841 and 422 pilgrims of Sokoto and Zamfara States respectively, while Air Peace flight P47902 departed from Lagos to Madinah with 262 pilgrims from Kwara State, bringing total number of pilgrims airlifted to Saudi Arabia so far to a total of 2,574.
The pilgrims were airlifted to Holy Land in five flights from four different airports and by four airlines conveying pilgrims of five different States.
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