…forces return of affected passengers to Nigeria
By Sade Williams
There is palpable outrage in the Nigerian travel industry as the visas of 177 passengers out of 264 passengers who arrived Jeddah from Kano aboard an Air Peace flight, were cancelled by the Saudi Arabian authorities, The Travel Port has learnt.
It was gathered that the Saudi Arabian authorities had abruptly cancelled the visas of all 264 passengers who arrived Jeddah airport as it insisted that the airline return the passengers to Nigeria, save for the timely intervention of Nigerian Embassy which led to reducing the numbers to 177.
The passengers, along with airline personnel, were surprised as their visas had been processed through the Advanced Passengers Prescreening System (APPS), monitored by Saudi authorities before departure.
Speculation arose about whether the visa cancellations were a strategic move to deter the airline from operating to that destination, given Air Peace’s consistently high load factor since initiating the route.
While Saudi Air had been operating directly from Nigeria to Saudi Arabia, Air Peace had gained popularity by offering relatively lower fares, contributing to the conservation of foreign exchange for Nigeria.
The Saudi Immigration personnel claimed ignorance about the visa cancellations, stating that they occurred while the airline was already en route to Jeddah.
Despite the Advanced Passenger Prescreening System (APPS) accepting all affected passengers, 177 passengers were eventually deported, and Air Peace has returned them to Nigeria.
