Aviation

VISA CANCELLATION: NOT AIR PEACE’S FAULT

Published

1 year ago

November 15, 2023

This is to inform the public that the cancellation of the visas of 177 Nigerians out of the 264 passengers that flew with us to Jeddah on November 12, 2023, was not the Airline’s fault.

It has become imperative to state the real fact in the face of conflicting commentaries in the public domain.

It must be stressed that Air Peace, as a scheduled flight operator with vast international operations experience, understands and complies with established protocols governing international flight operations and is not culpable of any infraction in this respect.

For the avoidance of doubts, Air Peace is a scheduled operator between Nigeria and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and the said flight was indeed a SCHEDULED Flight and not a Chartered/UMAR/HAJJ or any Special flight.

This scheduled 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 the Saudi Arabian Authorities. We are not limited to UMAR or HAJJ Visas alone on a scheduled flight.

The visas of all passengers on the said flight to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia were checked and verified through the requisite procedures and were vetted to be valid before departure.

The visas were 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.

No Notice of Cancellation or any form of denial from the Saudi Authorities was received against any of these passengers despite the live transmission of their details.

Furthermore, the Passenger manifest containing the names of all passengers on board the flight was sent ahead to the Saudi Arabia National Travel Security Center Carrier Portal before the flight departure, yet no Notice of Visa cancellation was received against any of these passengers.

We would like to reiterate that Air Peace strictly followed the profiling procedures stipulated by the Saudi Arabian Authorities and we are still shocked that upon arrival in Jeddah, the visas of our passengers were cancelled without any cogent explanation even till now.

The immigration officers of Saudi Arabia were equally surprised that Valid Visas were cancelled the way it was done.

While we empathize with the affected passengers for this development and assure them of our full compliance with the provisions guiding international travels, we wish to state that up till this moment, the Saudi Arabian authorities have not provided any explanations for the sudden and unexpected cancellation of the Visas.

Air Peace has continued to cooperate with the Authorities to unravel the issues surrounding the Visa.

Aviation

SAHCO WINS NEOSAIR GROUND HANDLING CONTRACT

Published

2 weeks ago

November 4, 2024

august24admin

SAHCO WINS NEOSAIR GROUND HANDLING CONTRACT

AJAGBE ADEYEMI TESLIM

SPONSORED BY: H&H

Skyway Aviation Handling Company (SAHCO) PLC, a leading Ground Handling service provider in Nigeria, is proud to announce its new partnership with NeosAir starting from October 30th, 2024 that would be flying from Milan Malpensa Airport in Italy to Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos once a week.

Under this new agreement, SAHCO will be providing full ground handling services for NeosAir which include Ramp handling, Passenger handling, Baggage handling, Cargo handling, Aircraft cleaning, and more.

SAHCO’s experienced team and state-of-the-art equipment are fully prepared to meet the unique needs of NeosAir’s operations, ensuring seamless and efficient turnarounds at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, Nigeria.”We are thrilled to partner with NeosAir on this important venture,” said Dr (Barr) Taiwo Afolabi (CON) Chairman, SAHCO. “This patronage reflects the trust and confidence that NeosAir has in our capabilities.

We are committed to delivering the highest quality of service to support their operations, ensuring safe, timely, and efficient ground handling for their flights.”

He went on to emphasize that SAHCO is ISAGO and RA3 certified which means that SAHCO has the certification to handle all Europe bound cargo and can accept shipments from Europe as well.

Furthermore, SAHCO has a proven track record of providing top-tier ground handling services to major airlines operating in Nigeria.

The company is known for its dedication to safety, efficiency, and customer satisfaction. With the addition of NeosAir to its growing list of clients, SAHCO continues to strengthen its position as a leading ground handling service provider in the region.

NeosAir is a private Italian airline whose headquarters is in Somma Lombardo, Lombardy, Italy and is a subsidiary of Alpitour S.p.A.

In addition, NeosAir operates from its main operating base at Milan Malpensa Airport in Italy to Africa, Europe, Asia and North America.