Air Peace says it does not operate flights to Ebola-affected countries as the Nigerian carrier moves to reassure Caribbean travellers following concerns raised after its inaugural direct service to Barbados.
The airline, which made its first direct flight from Nigeria to the Caribbean on Sunday with a landing at Grantley Adams International Airport, said enhanced health screening measures are in place and stressed that none of its routes serve countries currently reporting Ebola cases.
Chief Commercial Officer Nowel Ngala said Nigerian aviation and health authorities have intensified monitoring procedures at airports to screen passengers arriving from regions affected by the outbreak.
“We are 100 per cent safe. The government of Nigeria together with the National Aviation Authority have put in place drastic measures at all of the entry airports in Nigeria to control and scan passengers arriving from destinations affected by the Ebola virus,” Ngala said.
The concerns follow reports of Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. However, Ngala noted that Air Peace does not operate flights to those destinations and said passengers travelling on the Barbados route are primarily coming from Lagos and Ghana.
“We continue to scrutinize our passengers, and we did not come with any passengers concerning the Ebola and we will continue to work with both governments and all markets in the Caribbean to build traffic from here into Nigeria,” he said.
Ngala also addressed questions about the airline’s decision not to continue the service onward to Antigua, explaining that the move was based on low passenger demand and operational costs.
Speaking during the official launch at Hotel Indigo on Monday, he said the original routing was intended to operate between Lagos, Barbados and Antigua.
“Our original flight schedule was for Lagos, Barbados and Antigua and our decision to end the flight in Barbados was strictly a commercial decision based on the passenger load,” Ngala said.
He said the airline recorded only 24 passengers travelling to Antigua and just one outbound passenger from Antigua, making the route financially unviable.
“There is still a lot of work to be done on the ground to drive the inbound traffic from the Caribbean back into Nigeria and central Africa,” he added.
Ngala also pointed to high fuel prices as a major factor behind the decision.
“We made a conscious decision to end the flight in Barbados because of cost reasons. We understand that the fuel prices are extremely high and so landing a Boeing 777 to just uplift one passenger would not have made any economic sense,” he said.