NAHCON announces inaugural flight for hajj
By Matthew Denis
The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has announced that the inaugural flight for the 2025 Hajj season will take off on May 9th, with the airlift operation expected to be concluded by May 24th.
This was disclosed during a meeting between NAHCON and State Muslim Pilgrims’ Welfare Board Executive Secretaries under the Forum of States on Tuesday in Abuja.
According to the Chairman of NAHCON, Professor Abdullah Saleh Usman, the Commission has made significant progress in preparation for the 2025 Hajj season.
He called on the states to update NAHCON on their level of preparedness, particularly in areas such as visa production, vaccination, and bags procurement.
The meeting revealed that three airlines will be used for the airlift operation: Air Peace, FlyNas, and Max Air, and Umrah Air (Umza).
Air Peace has been assigned 5,128 pilgrims from 16 states, while FlyNas will airlift 12,506 pilgrims from seven states, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) bringing in nine aircraft for the operation.
Max Air will airlift 15,203 pilgrims from eight states, deploying two aircraft for the operation- a B747 with 400 capacity and the second aircraft with a 560 capacity and Umza will airlift 10,163 pilgrims from five states with two aircraft; a B747 with 477 capacity and a B777 with 310 capacity.
The Commissioner Operations, Prince Anofiu Elegushi, disclosed that the 2025 Hajj airlift distribution was calculated on a total of 43,000 pilgrims.
The inbound flight is tentatively scheduled to commence on June 13th and end by July 2nd.
Professor Abubakar Yagawal, Commissioner Planning Research Statistics Information & Library Services (PRSILS), informed the meeting of the Commission’s preparedness, including the securing of clinics in Makkah and Madinah, distribution of Yellow Cards to states, and reminded the states not to enroll pregnant women for the Hajj exercise.
It reports that the meeting was attended by various stakeholders, and the Commission is working to ensure a smooth and successful Hajj operation.
