By Mustapha Kamara
After an assessment of the Freetown International Airport, Kenya Airways is to resume operations to Sierra Leone, five weeks since the east African carrier suspended flights to the country due to Ebola.
General Manager of the Sierra Leone Airports Authority, John Sesay, said the airlines had made the decision after a thorough consideration with the Kenyan government, adding that they had stopped operations in the country because they were forced by the Kenyan government to do so.
“The Kenyan government was afraid of further spread of the Ebola virus disease into their country,” Sesay said and disclosed that Nairobi had sent a medical team to Freetown for an assessment of the airport.
He said the airline would resume operations presumably in the third week of October.
“Based on the positive results gathered from the Kenyan medical team that visited Sierra Leone and appeals made by WHO and the International Civil Aviation Organisation, the airline will start operating again amidst the Ebola crisis,” Sesay stated.
On health, safety and security at the airport, he told Politico that all passengers coming in and going out of the country would be screened and expressed hope that Ebola would be eradicated.
(C) Politico 23/09/14
