By KEMI KASUMU
The General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA), Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, has approved extension of landing permit for Nigerian Hajj carriers under the umbrella of National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON).
This was contained in a statement by Fatima Sanda Usara, Assistant Director, NAHCON, copy of which was sent to The DEFENDER on Monday.
According to the statement, “Today 4th of July, the extension will commence to 6th of same month for one of the airlines whereas 4th and 5th have been approved for the another.
“NAHCON sought the extension to enable it to transport its remaining pilgrims into the Kingdom for 2022 Hajj.
“Of the 43,008 pilgrims expected to arrive 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.
“The extension was necessitated by excessive flight cancellations and flight delays. Data has shown that, from 10 th to 13 th of June, 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,” it said.
“Notwithstanding the difficult situation, NAHCON once again reiterates 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,” the statement said.
To this end, NAHCON has appealed to pilgrims to be calm and remain prepared for onward conveyance for the 2022 Hajj, while expressing regrets of any tension and stress intending pilgrims might have experienced during this outbound journey to the holy land.
The Commission’s Chairman, Alhaji Zikrullah Kunle Hassan, commended the Nigerian pilgrims’ resilience and prayed that they all attain Hajj mabrur whose reward is jannatul Firdaus.
He gave assurance that NAHCON management will review the operations to make sure that such inconveniences are never repeated.
