Hajj 2023: NAHCON Completes 170 Flights with 70,451 Pilgrims

Hajj 2023: NAHCON Completes 170 Flights with 70,451 Pilgrims

By Abdulrahman Abdulraheem, in Makkah

Barely 48 hours to the closure of the Saudi Arabian airspace, the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), sister agencies and airlines have so far airlifted 70,451 pilgrims to the country out of the 75,000 they are scheduled to airlift for this year’s Hajj exercise.

Since the flag-off of the exercise on Thursday May 25, 2023 at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, NAHCON and other stakeholders have intensified the airlift 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, 169 other flights have taken off from Abuja, Illorin, Bauchi, Kano, Dutse, Sokoto, Kaduna, Katsina, Lagos, Gombe, Maiduguri, Port Harcourt and other cities.

Aside from Max Air, other airlines that were engaged to convey pilgrims to the Holy Land include Flynas, Air Peace, Aero Contractors and Azman.

PRNIGERIA can report that with Air Peace flight APK7920 which departed Abuja to Madinah at 04:28hrs on Thursday with 271
pilgrims, a milestone of 170 flights have been achieved while a total of 70,451 Nigerian worshippers have been successfully airlifted to the Holy Land so far.

Out of the 271 pilgrims on board, 270 are from FCT (158 Males and 112 Females) and one male pilgrim is from Enugu.

About 95,000 Nigerian pilgrims are expected to participate in this year’s Hajj exercise out of which NAHCON is responsible for airlifting 75,000.

Relevant NAHCON officials had earlier told journalists in Makkah that the remaining pilgrims who are less than 5,000 would be successfully airlifted to Saudi Arabia before the airspace is closed on Saturday.