Bridget Ikyado
Abuja,April,17,2023(NAN)Rev Yakubu Pam,the Executive Secretary, Nigeria Christian Pilgrim Commission (NCPC)has said
Indigenous airline, Air Peace will on April 20, 2023, begin historical direct flight from Nigeria to the State of Israel.
The airline also mull a three times a week flight service to Jeddah and Medina in order to make it easy for Nigerians who wish to travel to the holy land for pilgrimage.
He made this known on Monday during a press conference on the conclusion of the December 2022 Main pilgrimage to Israel and Jordan, and unveiling of the Commission’s 2023 Easter pilgrimage exercise.
The NCPC Boss said Air Peace’s inaugural flight to Ben Gurion International Airport, Tel-Aviv, Israel would be April 20, 2023.
According to him the direct flight between the two countries will cut travel time from 27 hours to five hours
Pam said this would be a historical feat, as there had never been a direct flight between the Middle East nation and Nigeria.
“The signed agreement will for the first time allow the airlines of each of the countries to operate regular flights at Ben Gurion Airport to several destinations in Nigeria, such as Abuja and Lagos.
” In the first phase, the Nigerian company (airline) will operate two weekly flights between Israel and Nigeria.
“So far, no direct flights have been operated between the two countries and the thousands of pilgrims who come to Israel every year from Nigeria have flown through Turkey or Ethiopia.
The agreement will allow Israeli and Nigerian airlines to make direct flights between the countries and increase the number of pilgrims who come to Israel every year,”
He said Israel has started opening new routes to connect the world and identified Nigeria as one of the leading countries in Africa that maintained close ties with Israel.
The NCPC Boss also said the commission had plans to initiate a media pilgrimage,a package where journalists would embark on the exercise to do proper documentations for documentaries for nugerinas benefit.
Pam said the commission had better standard now for welfare of pilgrims and also had zero abscondment.
“We have prioritised the welfare of pilgrims and have better security watch to ensure there are no records of abscondment”, he said
He thanked all states,individuals and organisations for their partnership for the success of the exercise,calling for more partnerships.
Pam also said more holy sites where to be explored soon for pilgrimage as the commission intended to create more bilateral ties for Nigeria and other nations.
He further said so far 4,000 Nigerians had embarked on the first phase of the main pilgrimage as more people where expected in the second phase ,making the 10,000 target achievable.
