Hajj 2023: NAHCON Completes 14 Flights with 6,062 Pilgrims in Four Days
AREWA AGENDA – Barely four days after the official flag-off of the 2023 Hajj exercise by President Muhammadu Buhari, the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), sister agencies and airlines have so far airlifted 6,062 pilgrims to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia..
Since the flag-off last Thursday at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja, NAHCON and other stakeholders have intensified the airlifting of pilgrims to the Holy Land which is taking place simultaneously across the country.
Since the commencement of the flights with Max Air Plane conveying over 400 Nasarawa pilgrims, 13 other flights have taken off from Abuja, Illorin, Bauchi, Kano, Sokoto, Lagos and other cities from Thursday to Sunday.
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Aside Max Air, other airlines that were engaged to convey pilgrims to the Holy Land include Flynas, Air Peace and Azman.
PRNIGERIA can report that with MaxAir flight VM1003 which departed Bauchi to Jeddah at 23:15hrs on Sunday, carrying 544 pilgrims (326 males and 218 females) and four officials, the total number of flights that have taken off is now 14 and they have so far conveyed 6,062 pilgrims to Saudi Arabia.
According to NAHCON, the 544 passengers on board the flight are Plateau state pilgrims who had to fly from Bauchi since Jos, the Plateau state capital, is not among the takeoff points approved by the Commission.
Meanwhile, the 544 passengers make up the last batch of pilgrims from the state which means that Plateau state has officially concluded airlifting of pilgrims to the Holy Land in this year’s Hajj.
NAHCON boss, Alhaji Zikrullah Kunle Hassan, had told journalists after the inauguration on Thursday that all Nigerian pilgrims would be airlifted within 25 days from 15 take-off points across the country.
