Saudi Arabia has cancelled the visa of all the 264 passengers of Air Peace on arrival in Jeddah from Kano.
The flight took off from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos via the Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano on Sunday night and arrived Jeddah Monday morning without issues.
On landing, the Saudi Arabia authorities announced that all the passengers’ visas were cancelled.
The Saudi authority insisted that the airline should return them back to Nigeria.
However, it later allowed 87 passengers to remain and insisted 177 should follow the Air Peace flight back to Nigeria.
It was gathered that the Nigerian embassy waded into the matter, prompting Saudi authorities to reduce the number of passengers that would be returned to 177 from 264.
Checks revealed that Saudi Air had been operating directly from Nigeria to Saudi Arabia and since Air Peace started flight service to the Middle East nation at relatively lower fares, it had been receiving high patronage and as a Nigerian carrier, it helps to conserve foreign exchange for the country.
A source from the Nigerian embassy in Jeddah disclosed that even the Saudi Immigrations personnel said that they didn’t know who cancelled the visas but that they were cancelled when the airline’s flight was already airborne to Jeddah.
The source said, “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.”
Those deported were 177 passengers and Air Peace has already left with them back to Nigeria.
“They are on their way to Nigeria now,” the source said.
Reacting, the CEO 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 was important for the Nigerian government to stand strongly with any Nigerian carrier designated to operate international destinations.