Relief has come the way of many intending Nigerian Muslim Pilgrims to the holy land of Mecca who were stranded across airports in Nigeria particularly the Lagos airport as the General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA) of Saudi has approved the extension of landing permit for Nigerian Hajj carriers under the umbrella of National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON).
Prior to the extension, many of the pilgrims whose hope of making the spiritual journey to Saudi had been dashed in view of the lack of availability of aircraft and other logistics were in tears and disappointment having prepared for the exercise at the Lagos airport.
The extension which started reading on July 4 will end on July 6 for one of the airlines whereas July 4 and July 5 have been approved for another.
NAHCON sought the extension to enable it to transport its remaining pilgrims into the Kingdom for the 2022 Hajj.
According to NAHCON, of the 43,008 pilgrims expected to arrive in Saudi Arabia from Nigeria, 27,359, inclusive of 527 staff as well as committees and board members, under the government quota have been conveyed.
Similarly, over 5,000 out of the 8,097 Tour Operators’ pilgrims with valid visas were moved through scheduled flights and other arrangements.
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The extension was necessitated by excessive flight cancellations and flight delays.
Data has shown that from June 10 – 13, nine flights were cancelled due to reasons ranging from inability to secure BTA, insufficient funds for visas, unavailable PCR test results etc.
In total, 13 flights were cancelled with another 57 delayed take-offs. Seven of which are in two digits, with the highest being 24 hours’ delay, followed by 23 hours delay, 22 hours and lowest in this category are twice 10-hour delays. Only 13 flights left on schedule out of the 65 outbound flights so far witnessed from the country.
Notwithstanding the difficult situation, NAHCON has again reiterated that “God willing, no pilgrim will be left behind as long as that individual has valid travel documents. To buttress this fact, frequency of outbound flights improved to seven take-offs yesterday and at full capacity too. Thankfully, one of the carriers, FlyNas, with its four aircraft, will fly four times daily thereby moving 1,732 each day.”
NAHCON has, therefore, appealed to pilgrims to be calm and to remain prepared for onward conveyance for the 2022 Hajj.
Commenting on the development, the Chairman of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Alhaji Zikrullah Kunle Hassan, declared: “The Commission regrets any tension and stress intending pilgrims might have experienced during this outbound journey to the holy land.”
While commending Nigerian pilgrims’ resilience and prayed that they all attain Hajj mabrur whose reward he said was jannatul Firdaus, Zikrullah gave assurance that NAHCON management will review the operations to make sure that such inconveniences are never repeated.
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