2024 Hajj: FlyNas assures seamless airlift

The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of First Planet Travels Limited, a General Sales Agent (GSA) of Flynas, Alhaji Umar Kaila, has assured a seamless journey for pilgrims that it will ferry during the 2024 hajj exercise.

Recall that FlyNas recently signed a pilgrim’s airlift agreement with the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) to airlift pilgrims from Borno, Lagos, Osun, Ogun, Niger, Sokoto, Kebbi, Yobe and Zamfara states to Saudi Arabia this year.

Speaking during an interview with selected journalists in Abuja, Kaila said the airline has been operating for 10 years in Nigeria, and thus understands the terrain.

“As we have done in the last 10 years, Flynas is fully ready to airlift Nigerian pilgrims to Saudi Arabia for the 2024 pilgrimage. As you are aware, Flynas has been in Nigeria since 2014 as part of the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) between Nigeria and Saudi Arabia.”

On its capacity, he said its capacity is more than enough to carry more than 30,000 if given the chance to do that.

“With over 100 trained and competent local adhoc staff, there is no gain saying that Flynas’ entry into the Nigerian hajj ecosystem has tremendously helped in building the capacity of its workforce and stabilizing the airlift operations of pilgrims to and from Saudi Arabia.”

He added that the airline has been meeting up with regulations that mandate taking care of pilgrims when they stay more than 8 hours in airports.

“Trouble is, if we keep an aircraft for eight hours to 10 hours, it is a big loss to us. Flynas is operating a chain operation across 19 different countries. So, we suffer this kind of loss, because as an airline, if you keep an aircraft that is supposed to spend like three hours for eight, or nine hours, it is a big loss,” he said.