out their aircraft following the outbreak of Ebola.
Although, aviation officials had been strictly mandated not to speak
on issues concerning the virus, a PUNCH correspondent reported 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 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 who pleaded anonymity 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) they were still flying into Nigeria.
"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,
also told our correspondent that VIPs and private jet owners from
other countries were usually not screened.
The source said, "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.
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."
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