Saudi Arabia authorities have cancelled the visas of 264 passengers flown to Jeddah by Nigeria’s Air Peace, requesting that the flight return to Nigeria.
Only 87 of the 264 passengers were allowed to board the plane by Saudi authorities, thanks to heavy lobbying by Nigerian embassy officials.
The flight took off from Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos via Aminu Kano International Airport in Kano on Sunday night and arrived in Saudi Arabia’s biggest city on Monday without incident; nevertheless, Saudi authorities declared that all passengers’ visas had been invalidated upon landing.
According to a source, the cancellation of the visas shocked all passengers and airline personnel because, during check-in, the passengers went through the Advanced Passengers Pre-screening System (APPS), which was also monitored by Saudi Arabian authorities before the flight left and departed Nigeria.
The insider wondered if what transpired was a strategy to discourage the airline from operating to the location because it had been recording strong load factors since it began operations.
He claimed that even the flight to Jeddah scheduled to depart on Tuesday was already sold out.
Following the intervention of the Nigerian embassy, Saudi authorities were alleged to have lowered the number of people who would be repatriated from 264 to 177.
Air Peace has been experiencing great patronage since it began its service to the Middle East nation at relatively reduced fares, and as a Nigerian carrier, it helps to save foreign money for the country.
According to a source at the Nigerian embassy in Jeddah, even Saudi immigration officials said they didn’t know who cancelled the visas but that they were cancelled while the plane was already in the air heading to Jeddah.
The source said: “The airline was exonerated in all this as the Advanced Passenger Pre-screening System (APPS) 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.”
Those deported were 177 passengers and Air Peace has already left with them back to Nigeria.
The source said: “They are on their way to Nigeria now.”
Industry observers attributed this to aeropolitics, noting that it is a way to force the Nigerian operator out of the route; unless the government intervenes, adopting the principle of reciprocity.
In his reaction to the incident, industry expert and the Chief Executive Officer of Centurion Aviation Security and Safety Consult, Nigeria, Group Captain John Ojikutu attributed the action of the Saudis to aero politics and diplomacy and urged that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should step in immediately and intervene in the case.
He said what happened showed why it is important for the Nigerian government to stand strongly with any Nigerian carrier designated to operate international destinations.
Ojikutu said Nigeria should designate Nigerian airlines approved to operate out of the country as flag carriers, noting that the United States has no national carrier but all the airlines are supported by the government and are designated as flag carriers.
He noted: “The action of the Saudi Authorities is shocking. There is aero politics there and there is also diplomacy. There is the need for the Nigerian government to stand firmly with Nigerian carriers and also designate them as flag carriers; so that other countries will know that they represent Nigeria.
“Government must come out and intervene. The government must be behind Air Peace now to ensure that it is not denied its rights as contained in the Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) between the two countries. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs must not keep quiet. Nigeria must not keep quiet. Ideally, the government is expected to stand behind any of the country’s airlines that it designates to fly overseas.”
