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Sierra Leone: Foreigners scramble for flights as airport lockdown deadline looms

  • Passengers outside Air France's office

By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay

Foreign nationals in Sierra Leone are scrambling for flight tickets ahead of a deadline to ban international air travel into and out of the country.

The ban is part of measures by the Sierra Leone government to keep the Coronavirus from reaching the country.

The Ministry of Transport and Aviation on Thursday said it had given airlines 72 hours, up to Saturday, March 21, to make the necessary arrangement and fly out their booked passengers.

On Friday Politico learnt that that deadline had been extended to Monday 23 when no regular flights will be allowed in or out, with the possibility of special flights.

Sierra Leone is yet to record any case of the coronavirus which has already hit close neighbors, Guinea and Liberia. Both countries had their cases brought in from outside Africa.

Many African countries have announced measures that include shutting down their airports.

About nine airlines are normally operating in Sierra Leone. Before Thursday’s announcement, two of them – Royal Air Maroc and Brussels Airlines – had announced that they were halting operations to the country until the coronavirus pandemic stabilised.

The Sierra Leone government’s shutdown is for an indefinite period.

On Friday, there was near chaos at the offices of the local agent of Air France, one of the airlines that are expected to make their last flight today. The last Air France plane, a 280-seater aircraft, already fully booked, is scheduled to arrive in Lungi at 9:05 pm on Saturday and depart an hour later.

Passengers were scrambling to either book for a ticket or bring their flight date forward. Many of them are heading for either Europe or the United States.

Airline officials said the scramble started since Thursday evening, after the government’s announcement.

Sullay Conteh, a passenger heading for the United Kingdom, said he couldn’t afford to miss the Saturday flight, lamenting that the lockdown notice was too short.

“I am worried about my cost of living if I stay here. It keeps going up. I need to go. If I go today or tomorrow it will be fine,” he told Politico.

Conteh is one of many passengers who weren’t originally booked with Air France.

An aged woman who preferred anonymity said she was in limbo.

“I am from Canada. If I stay here for the next three months, who will pay my bills, and will I afford to go back?” she wondered.

The dilemma for the management of Air France is that it can’t afford to meet the huge demand.

However, Station Manager, Edgar Lacle, said they were looking at the possibility of flying in a larger aircraft, even though this possibility he said was very slim.

According to Lacle, it will be costly to bring in a larger aircraft, especially when they couldn’t be guaranteed enough passengers on the first leg of the flight.

“The problem is people want to go with a flight that is already booked. We are looking into the possibility of getting a bigger airplane, but the problem is there might not be passengers to make the trip here because Europe is in a lockdown,” Lacle told Politico.

“Even people who have been here since July, they all want to go now,” he added.

Nonetheless, there is still a glimmer of hope for the stranded passengers.

The head of the civil aviation authority, Moses Tiffany Baio told Politico that some flights had been allowed to come in on Sunday, a day after the initial deadline.

“Four flights have been exempted because we want to give them time to run their final laps,” he said.

The four airlines AMA, Asky, Kenya Airways and Air Peace.

“After the deadline, special flights will be allowed as long as they don’t bring passengers in,” he added.

Baio also said that they had granted a request from Turkish Airlines to pick up their nationals next week but would bring in no passengers.

Copyright © 2020 Politico Online

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