A total of 475 intending pilgrims from Oyo State have been transported to Saudi Arabia for this year’s Hajj.
Head of Human Resource and Administration, UMZA Aviation Services, Mr Liman Muhammad, made the disclosure in an interview in Lagos on Friday.
Muhammad said that the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) had allocated 8,300 pilgrims from four states to his organisation for transportation to Saudi Arabia.
He said that UMZA Aviation Services was in partnership with Aero Contractors Airlines for the Hajj operation.
“We are partnering with Aero Contractors for the 2023 Hajj. We provide the finances and while Aero Contractors provide the technical aspect of the operation.
“The company applied for the 2023 Hajj and it was screened and approved as one of the carriers. We were allocated 8,300 slots of pilgrims from four states, which are Nasarawa, Oyo, Adamawa and Taraba.
“Nasarawa was the first state we transported with 2,098 seats, Oyo has 1,000 seats, Adamawa 603 and Taraba 1,700. We have already finished transporting the pilgrims from Nasarawa.
“We are in Lagos to commence that of Oyo and the first outbound flight took 475 pilgrims. It will be back later in the day for the second flight,” he said.
Muhammad further stated that the two airplanes used in transporting the pilgrims were Boeing 747 400 series, with capacity to transport 479 passengers.
He noted that the airline services had applied for Air Operator Certification (AOC) from Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and was in the progress of getting the certification.
Muhammad commended the Federal Government’s efforts at ensuring safe transportation of all pilgrims to Saudi Arabia.
