Owners of private jets in Nigeria have become cautious about
leasing out their aircraft following the outbreak of Ebola.
Although, aviation officials had been strictly mandated not
to speak on issues concerning the virus, one of our correspondents gathered
that most private jet owners had cut down the number of times they leased out
their jets.
A senior official with one of the key agencies in the sector
told our correspondent many countries had systematically stopped their carriers
from flying into Nigeria, thereby heightening the panic among private jet
owners in the country.
“Many foreign carriers hardly fly into Nigeria and most of
them have officially announced the suspension of flights to countries like Liberia
and Guinea where the Ebola virus disease is very pronounced. This is causing
panic among owners of private jets and some of them are not giving out their
jets to friends and even family members,” the official said.
Another senior aviation official at the Nnamdi Azikiwe
International Airport also told our correspondent that airlines like Cameroon
Air had suspended their flights into Nigeria.
Pleading anonymity, he said, “We have suspended only Gambia
Airline. Others that don’t come into Nigeria are the ones who suspended
themselves. For instance, Cameroon Air said they were not coming here and they
did that on their own.”
Asked if major international carriers, like British Airways,
Kenya Airlines and Emirates, had cancelled flights into Nigeria, the official
said, “They are still coming. There is no official communication telling us
they have suspended their flights. At least, as at yesterday (Thursday) I know
they are still flying into Nigeria but I don’t know if it has changed as at
today (Friday).
“However, we do know that many countries are taking all the
necessary precautions and many airlines, on their own, are suspending
operations into Ebola-hit countries, especially nations like Guinea and
Liberia.”
Early this month, British Airways announced the suspension
of flights to Liberia and Sierra Leone following concerns about the spread of
Ebola.
Dubai’s Emirates Airline also stated that it was suspending
flights to Guinea. Pan-African airline Aruj and ASKY suspended all flights to
and from the capitals of Liberia and Sierra Leone following the death of a
Liberian passenger at the end of July in Lagos.
Officials stated that Chad had also suspended all flights
from Nigeria, adding that Nigeria had stopped the Gambian national carrier,
Gambia Bird Airlines, from flying into the country.
This, according to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority,
was due to “unsatisfactory” measures by the airline to contain the spread of
Ebola.
Similarly, on August 11, Cote d’Ivoire announced the ban of
all flights from countries hit by Ebola as part of steps to prevent the deadly
virus from reaching the West African nation.
The country’s government said in a statement it had
forbidden all “carriers from transporting passengers” from these countries. It
also said it had decided “on the suspension until further notice” flights by
its national airline, Air Cote d’Ivoire, to and from these locations.
At the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, an official
of the Port Health Authority, who chose to speak on the condition of anonymity,
confirmed to our correspondent that VIPs and private jet owners from other
countries were usually not screened.
The source said, “Of course, VIPs and private jet owners
flying in from other countries are usually not screened. Right now, we are only
screening people that come in from West African countries, especially the
troubled countries for now.
“One of the reasons for this is because we do not have
enough facilities to screen everybody at once, we have to start from the
troubled countries first and then move on to others.”
The Minister for Aviation, Mr. Osita Chidoka, had in his
maiden briefing with stakeholders and journalists said the screening of
passengers into the country was being done in stages for now.
He said, “It is not possible at this stage to screen all the
passengers that come into the country because this is still a new problem in
our country and we have to start from the known to the unknown.”
Punch.
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