Pilgrims under private tour operators have commended Max Air for coming to their rescue by airlifting about 6,000 of them to Saudi Arabia for 2023 Hajj.
While appreciating Max Air proprietor, Dahiru Mangal, for coming to their aid, a cross section of the pilgrims also appealed to Vice President Kashim Shettima to probe NAHCON for approving incompetent airlines for the hajj operation.
Recall that thousands of tour operators’ pilgrims were rendered stranded in Lagos within the vicinity of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, for more than a week before Max Air was deployed to rescue them.
The pilgrims were allocated to Arik Air, which couldn’t transport them to hajj due to undisclosed reasons.
The stranded pilgrims had to stage a protest in front of Arik Air office at the Lagos airport before NAHCON engaged Max Air for a rescue operation.
Records seen by this newspaper showed that Max Air had airlifted 5,662 tour operators’ pilgrims allocated to Arik Air during the rescue operation.
Aside rescuing the nearly 6,000 private pilgrims, the Katsina—based Max Air also rescued another 5,000 pilgrims under the state quota from Nasarawa (472), FCT (556), Jigawa (559), Gombe (2,733), Air Peace pilgrims from Lagos and Ilorin (420).
Speaking with journalists, a private pilgrim, Monsoura Said, thanked Max Air for transporting her to the Holy Land.
“Max Air made my dream come true. I almost miss this golden opportunity like I did last year if not for Max Air intervention.
“It is unfortunate that the hajj commission chairman said airlift has been completed while there are over 2,000 tour operators’ pilgrims on ground. Max Air evacuated us to Saudi Arabia on Saturday afternoon, long after the NAHCON chairman had arrived in the kingdom,” she said.
Another pilgrim, Kadiri Ibrahim-Raji, said: “Max Air was God-sent. I almost lost hope after spending one week at Lagos airport. But Allah made it possible through Max Air.”
Ibrahim Musa-Garba, another pilgrim from Kano, said: “It was a narrow escape. Max Air did the magic. And we are in Makkah now for hajj. “
Another pilgrim, Bello Rauf, said Arik Air should be penalized.
“They were allocated pilgrims even though they know they don’t have the capacity and wherewithal to do it. This should be penalized,” said Mr Rauf.
The pilgrims also urged Vice President Kashim Shettima to, “investigate NAHCON to unravel the circumstances that led to the selection of hajj air carriers with no apparent capacity to do the airlift”.
“Arik Air, for instance, lacks all the requirements listed by the hajj commission in its adverts for the selection of airlines. But it was still selected and approved by the commission.
“This anomaly must be probed by the Vice President to avert future reoccurrence,” Wakeel Braimoh, has said.
