We complied with all rules, Air Peace insists
Saudi Arabian authorities, yesterday, gave reasons for the cancellations of Jeddah-bound Nigerians travellers on Monday, citing wrong visas in their possession.

The Saudi Embassy in Nigeria stated the fault and non-adherence to standard rules were later discovered to warrant express denial of entry and deportation at Jeddah.

Recall that a total of 264 passengers onboard Air Peace airlines had their visas cancelled mid-air and without prior notice on Monday.

On arriving at King Abdulaziz International Airport, Jeddah, the Saudi authorities ordered the aircraft to make a return with 177 passengers back to Nigeria.

Royal Embassy press secretary, Mohamamd Alsahabi, said the passengers’ were denied entry and subsequently deported because they failed to adhere to requirements.

Alsahabi said the passengers didn’t fulfill entry conditions and requirements in accordance with the applicable rules and regulations of the Kingdom, “as they submitted incorrect information to obtain a category of visa that doesn’t apply to them, which was discovered upon their arrival.”

He said it is important for all passengers to review all the documents to determine their conformity with the conditions prior to departing from their countries to the Kingdom. “This procedure was not limited to Nigerians only, but also citizens of other countries.”

But in a reaction, Air Peace Airline has absolved itself of blame, both for the documentation flaws and the deportation of travellers.

Chief Operating Officer of the airline, Toyin Olajide, explained that all pre-boarding verification rules were followed, with passenger manifests sent pre-departure and no notice of visa cancellation received from Saudi Arabia.

Olajide said Air Peace, as a scheduled flight operator with vast international operations experience, it understands and complies with established protocols governing international flight operations and is not culpable of any infraction.

“This flight means we are allowed to airlift all categories of passengers with different types of visas as long as their visas are valid and approved by Saudi Arabian authorities. We are not limited to Hajj Visas alone on a scheduled flight.

“The visas of all passengers on the said flight to Jeddah were checked and verified using the visa confirmation platform provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Saudi Arabia which confirmed the validity of each passenger visa before passengers were allowed to check-in for the flight.”

“All the Visas of the 264 passengers were duly verified, confirmed, and accepted as authentic for the trip through the Visa Portal provided by the Saudi Arabia Authorities, if not, no passengers would have been able to depart from Nigeria. This is just one of two steps required before a passenger is accepted on the flight to Saudi Arabia.

“The next step is the use of the Advanced Passenger Information System (APIS). We equally use this system to determine the admissibility or otherwise of each passenger on that flight.

“The APIS was live between Air Peace’s reservation system and the Saudi Arabia National Travel Security Center Carrier Portal to transmit passenger details prior to departure, to the Saudi Authorities in order to further determine the admissibility or otherwise of the passengers.”