FG calls for review of Hajj passengers’ sharing formula

The Minister of Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika, has called for a review of the 50/50 Hajj passengers sharing formula between Saudi Arabia-owned airlines and those of other Hajj participating countries.

He was speaking during a meeting with a delegation from the Saudi Arabian General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) led by its president, Abdulaziz A. Duailej.

The minister said Hajj and Umrah operations needed to be streamlined under strict regulations to make airlines stronger as well as to protect Nigerians plying that route from experiencing difficulties.

While requesting GACA’s president to consider Nigeria’s peculiarities in this regard, he noted that successful partnership depended on negotiations, compromise and seeking for mutual support and understanding.

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On his part, the Chairman National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Zikrullah Kunle Hassan, requested information on the scope of operations which the Advance Payment Guarantee (APG) covers under GACA guidelines.

He said the clarification was sought due to the problem encountered in the 2022 Hajj where NAHCON had requested it’s APG be used to allow Azman Air commence airlift before the airline’s own APG would be approved which led to the airline losing 11 days of operations due to delay in its APG being credited in its IBAN account.

Hassan, in a statement by the spokeswoman of NAHCON, Fatima Sanda Usara, also requested GACA to make known, early enough, which Saudi-based airline would be deployed for the Hajj operations as well as forwarding of information on Saudi-recognised private charter flights to NAHCON to enable the commission to monitor their activities.

He also requested that security identity cards for NAHCON staff posted to the airports for Hajj operations be made readily available as the commission would begin aviation-related activities in preparation for the 2023 Hajj in the coming weeks.

The GACA president said the visit was to ensure that the preparation process of the 2023 Hajj is hitch-free and allowed participating countries time to plan to avoid hitches.