Saudi Arabia has cancelled the visas of all 264 passengers who were airlifted by Nigeria’s major carrier, Air Peace, upon their arrival in Jeddah from Kano.
Saudi authorities have demanded that the airline return the passengers back to Nigeria. However, they later allowed 87 passengers to stay, while insisting that the remaining 177 should return on the Air Peace flight.
The flight departed from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, made a stop at the Aminu Kano International Airport in Kano, and arrived in Jeddah without any issues. However, upon landing, the Saudi authorities announced that all the passengers’ visas had been cancelled.
According to a reliable source, both the passengers and airline staff were taken aback by the sudden cancellation of visas. This came as a surprise because the passengers had already gone through the Advanced Passengers Prescreening System (APPS) during check-in, which was also monitored by Saudi Arabian authorities before the flight departed from Nigeria.
The source questioned whether this was a deliberate tactic to discourage the airline from operating flights to this destination. It is worth noting that the airline has been experiencing consistently high passenger numbers since it began operating, and even the upcoming flight to Jeddah on Tuesday was already fully booked.
According to ThisDay, the Nigerian embassy intervened in the situation, which led the Saudi authorities to decrease the number of passengers to be sent back from 264 to 177.
Additionally, it was found out that Saudi Air had been operating flights directly from Nigeria to Saudi Arabia. However, since Air Peace began offering flights to the Middle East nation at lower prices, it has been receiving a lot of customers. As a Nigerian carrier, this helps to save foreign currency for the country.
The online media further reports that even the Saudi Immigration personnel were unaware of who cancelled the visas. However, the visas were cancelled while the airline’s flight was already en route to Jeddah.
It quoted a source as saying “The airline was exonerated in all this as the Advanced Passenger Prescreening System which is live between both countries would have screened out any invalid visa and its passenger. The system accepted all affected passengers and passed them on.”
A total of 177 passengers were deported and Air Peace has already taken them back to Nigeria.
