Hajj: Four Airlines Refuse To Sign Agreement With NAHCON Over Sudan Crisis

Four Nigerian airlines have refused to sign an agreement with the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) to transport the 2023 Hajj intending pilgrims to Saudi Arabia due to the ongoing crisis in Sudan.

The the airlines are: Max Air with 16,326 allocation, Air Peace with 11,348, Azman Air with 8,660 and Aero Contractors with 7,833.

However, only the Saudi Arabian designated airline Flynas that will transport 28,515 intending pilgrims to Saudi Arabia signed the agreement.

Briefing newsmen at the venue of signing of the agreement at Hajj House in Abuja, the Chairman,  NAHCON, Zikrullah Hassan, said  that flynas would transport about 40 per cent of the Nigerian pilgrims.

NAHCON Chair, Zikrullah Hassan with officials of Flynas after signing agreement.

Hassan, however, said that the commission adjourned till Tuesday, May 9, to deliberate further with the Nigerian airlines that declined to sign the agreement.T

"Their representatives did inform me that they will be coming to discuss with us, with their Chairmen or Chief Executives Officers where we intend to have more in-depth discussions before we come to agreement.

“The reason why it is delayed is because of the Sudan crisis. We have been told that the Sudan airspace has been shutdown.

"The airlines will have to go through another route which from all indications is longer than passing through Sudan.

“We are hopeful that the Sudan conflict will abate and if it does, it means that we will go back to where we are.

“We have planned our agreement prior to the Sudan crisis and we know that as we speak, there is a ceasefire in Sudan.”

According to Hassan, although it is not however known how soon the crisis will end.

“We will keep on working with the understanding that the the ceasefire will work and the crisis will come to an end so pilgrims from all over the world will able to transit through Sudan to Saudi Arabia,”he added.

Earlier, the NAHCON’s Commissioner of Operations, Alhaji Abdullahi Magaji-Hardawa, said that President Muhammadu Buhari had approved a waiver of 65 per cent of all aviation related charges on the Nigerian airlines approved to transport pilgrims to Saudi Arabia

This, according to him, is to cushion the effects of eventualities for the airlines.

About 95,000 pilgrims from Nigeria are expected to perform this year’s pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.