KENYA AIRWAYS TEMPORARILY HALTS FLIGHTS TO LIBERIA AND SIERRA LEONE
(Posted 17th August 2014)
Kenya Airways late yesterday yielded to growing pressure from the Kenyan public which has expressed concern over flights into the West African Ebola zone, as well as acted upon advice from the Kenyan Ministry of Health and suspended operations to Liberia and Sierra Leone. Flights to Nigeria, where a small outbreak occurred but which has since been contained, and to Ghana where no cases were recorded, will continue as per published schedules. The Kenyan public was swift to express relief and appreciation to the airline for this decision, even though the phrase ‘Better Late Than Never’ does come to mind.
Media statement start:
As we have indicated before, we are dependent on expert advice for our
continued operations from Ministry of Health and WHO. Following the Ministry
of Health statement issued today, Kenya Airways wishes to confirm that we will
comply with the advice to suspend our commercial flight operations to Liberia
and Sierra Leone temporarily. This operational decision effective; Tuesday 19th
August 2014 midnight, is based on the situation risk assessment by Kenya’s
Ministry of Health.
To our esteemed guests who are booked on the suspended flights, we wish to
express our sincere regrets for disrupting your travel plans. We further wish to
confirm that we shall be providing for a full refund of all tickets earlier booked
and paid for prior to this suspension.
The provision of air transport services during such critical moments remains a
crucial component of the outbreak containment and overall management. At
the height of the Ebola outbreak, Kenya Airways has remained a key air
transport solutions provider. We have transported medical staff, supplies and
equipment to facilitate the management of the outbreak.
I take this opportunity to thank our customers for their continued confidence in
our services, and our staff for their passion and dedication.
I wish to confirm that Kenya Airways will continue operating all its scheduled
flights to Nigeria and Ghana. However, in the interest of public safety for both
our esteemed guests and staff, we reserve the right to cancel our flights to any
other destination should the situation warrant.
Periodic media updates will be duly provided.
Thank you for flying ‘The Pride of Africa’.Titus Naikuni
Group Managing Director & CEO
Kenya Airways
In another media statement received did the airline’s CEO Dr. Titus Naikuni say: ‘I wish to confirm that Kenya Airways will continue operating all its scheduled flights to Nigeria and Ghana. However, in the interest of public safety for both our esteemed guests and staff, we reserve the right to cancel our flights to any other destination should the situation warrant’.
Meanwhile has the World Health Organization, which was not exactly consistent in recent day with public statements and utterances of some of their top officials, announced that in order to bring the outbreak under control it might take up to half a year, though some independent observers think it could be even longer before the entire West African Ebola zone can be declared disease free once again.
WHO last week put Kenya on the Level 2 alert stage, though inexplicably not other countries which national airlines fly into the Ebola zone, but then went on to criticize airlines from halting flights to the affected countries in what can only be described as verbal acrobatics. The internal disagreement shows the clearly diverging opinions even at that level of how best to contain the outbreak, to either opt for a complete lockdown – something the authorities in the three initial outbreak countries patently failed to do – or else to leave the connections open and risk a potentially global spread of the disease.
Information received from elsewhere however indicates that Ethiopian Airlines, for now at least, plans to continue flights to the affected countries though pressure will now no doubt grow to also suspend flights and avoid any possible risk to uplift infected passengers, even if they do not show symptoms as of that moment, and then later be branded as aiding and abetting the spread of the disease around the globe for the mere motive of profits and market share.
Watch this space for breaking and regular aviation news from across Eastern Africa.
