The Saudi Arabian Hajj authorities have extended the closing date of the Jeddah Airport for two clays to enable the Interim Hajj Management Committee to complete arrangements to airlift the 2,700 stranded Ghanaian pilgrims to that country.

The extension follows government's request to the Saudi Arabian Government to that effect following the inability of the Hajj Committee to secure flights for the pilgrims.

The official closing date for the Jeddah Airport is Friday, December 14, 2007 but it will be open for only Ghanaian pilgrims till Sunday, December 16, 2007.

A member of the Hajj Committee, Alhaji B. B. Daddah, who made this known to the Daily Graphic Tuesday, attributed the inability of the committee to secure the flights to the breach of contractual agreement by the ALAMA Airline of Libya.

He said instead of the airline coming for Ghanaian pilgrims as agreed in the agreement, it rather went to convey pilgrims of other countries who had given better offers.

Alhaji Daddah said following interventions by the committee, Ghana's Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Mr Rashid Bawa, and the Saudi Arabian authorities, operators of ALAMA Airline had agreed to convey Ghanaian pilgrims.

However, he said, the operators had requested an additional $100 from each of the 2,700 prospective pilgrims, which he claimed the committee had paid.

Following the payment, Alhaji Daddah said the operators of ALAMA Airline had allocated two flights to convey the Ghanaian pilgrims and indicated that the flights were in Jeddah.


Source: Daily Graphic