Thousands of intending pilgrims from Nigeria may miss the annual exercise four days before the closure of Saudi Arabia’s airspace for Hajj flights.
The worst affected are pilgrims traveling through licensed Hajj and Umrah operators, who have been stranded at various airports for several days.
Most tour operators are already under intense pressure from their pilgrims due to the delay.
On Saturday, some intending pilgrims who had been sleeping in mosques and open spaces near Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) expressed their dissatisfaction with the delay in their airlift.
They later took their rage to the headquarters of Arik Air, the airline hired by their agents to transport them to Saudi Arabia.
Arik Air, which has only flown 300 of the approximately 7,000 passengers assigned to it by the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), has promised to resume flights within the next 24 hours.
However, our correspondent discovered yesterday that the airlift had not resumed because the intended pilgrims, some of whom were scheduled to travel five days ago, had yet to be airlifted.
To meet the deadline, Arik Air must transport at least 1,500 passengers per day.
On Saturday, the airline confirmed airlifting 374 passengers from the Lagos, Abuja, and Kano zones out of the allocations given to it.
With the sighting of the crescent for the month of Dhul Hijjah yesterday, Arafat Day will be on June 27, with all Hajj flights expected to arrive by June 22 at midnight.
As of the time of filing this report yesterday, approximately 62,000 pilgrims had been airlifted out of approximately 73,000 registered with the various state pilgrims’ welfare boards, with approximately 10,000 still awaiting their airlift, which is said to be progressing with the hope of meeting the deadline.
However, the fate of intending pilgrims registered through tour operators remains in doubt due to Arik Air’s challenge, despite the fact that the tour operators, in addition to being under enormous pressure from the pilgrims, have run into serious debt.
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