Saudi Arabia has canceled the visas of all 264 passengers who were airlifted by Air Peace upon their arrival in Jeddah from Kano.
The cancellation occurred during a business meeting involving the governments of Nigeria and Saudi Arabia.
According to a source, the Saudi authorities initially instructed the airline to return all 264 passengers to Nigeria but later allowed 87 passengers to remain.
The flight, which originated from Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, via Aminu Kano International Airport in Kano, arrived in Jeddah on Monday. Upon landing, Saudi authorities announced the cancellation of all passengers’ visas, causing surprise and confusion among both passengers and airline personnel.
The source raised concerns about whether this development was a ploy to discourage Air Peace from continuing its operations on the route, considering the carrier’s high load factor and the fact that the next flight scheduled for Tuesday was already fully booked.
Following intervention by the Nigerian embassy, the number of passengers to be returned was reduced from 264 to 177. The embassy clarified that Saudi immigration personnel were unaware of who canceled the visas, noting that the airline was already en route to Jeddah when the passengers’ travel documents were voided.
The source explained that the Advanced Passenger Pre-screening System (APPS) between both countries should have screened out any invalid visas, and the system accepted all affected passengers.
John Ojikutu, CEO of Centurion Aviation Security and Safety Consult, attributed the Saudi authorities’ action to geopolitics. To prevent a recurrence, he suggested that the Nigerian government designate domestic airlines with foreign operations as flag carriers, as the United States does.
