Nigerian pilgrims preparing for Hajj 2026 may face an unprecedented uncertainty as a brewing diplomatic crisis between Nigeria’s National Hajj Commission (NAHCON) and Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) threatens to ground flights before they even take off.

Reports revealed that a fierce face-off between Saudi GACA and NAHCON is imminent, stemming from what Saudi authorities deem a blatant and persistent violation of a binding bilateral agreement.

Highly placed sources within GACA confirmed that the authority is prepared to take the drastic step of denying landing slots to Nigerian carriers if NAHCON fails to immediately honoured the 50 per cent allocation of pilgrims to Saudi-designated airlines, as mandated by the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) signed in 2015.

“The issue at hand is a clear violation. The allocation given to Nigerian carriers dwarfs that of the Saudi air carriers. The agreement is not being respected, and patience is wearing thin,” a source familiar with the escalating communications between the bodies stated.

Documents revealed that on December 22, 2025, NAHCON’s Commissioner of Operations issued appointment letters to airlines, allocating states and provisional pilgrim numbers for the 2026 airlift. But the plans began unravelling almost immediately.

States like Kaduna and Niger, which were each initially projected to send 7,000 pilgrims, are now struggling to produce even 3,000 combined – a catastrophic shortfall of over 4,000 pilgrims. These states had been allocated to Flynas, the Saudi-designated carrier.

Instead of adjusting the overall allocation to maintain BASA compliance, NAHCON simply refused to readjust the numbers. Nigerian airlines Max Air, UMZA Air, and Air Peace have seen their allocations surge beyond their initial provisions, while Flynas sits significantly underutilised.