Foreign airlines operating in Nigeria are feeling the heat from the recent travel bans imposed by some governments such as Britain, Indonesia, Singapore, and Canada as many of the carriers now perfecting plans to cut flights into Nigeria in coming days or weeks. Majority of the foreign carriers are said to be making necessary arrangements to reduce significantly their flight frequencies into Nigeria which follows a flurry of cancelations of massive cancellations of flight reservations by intending passengers who had confirmed ticket bookings for travels in December, January and beyond.
Specifically, they said the travel bans imposed by Canada and the United Kingdom, which are two main destinations popular with Nigeria passengers, were impacting adversely on their flight reservations for the next one to three months. It was learnt that the European carriers were hit most by the travel ban.
Sources say that British Airways has informed travel agencies in Nigeria about a change in its flight schedules on the Nigerian route, following the ban on Nigeria by the UK government. British Airways plane which used to arrive at the Lagos airport around 6pm and depart 11pm on daily basis will now arrive early in the morning to depart a few hours later.
The development is to allow the passengers arriving in the UK to have access to quarantine facilities, according to officials.
The notice by British Airways to travel agencies read in part, “As a result of the UK government placing Nigeria on to the red list, we continue to closely monitor the situation and adjust our schedule accordingly.
“All flights from Lagos to London Heathrow have been re-timed. This is due to restrictions at London Heathrow to support arrivals from a red-list country.
“All customers travelling from Nigeria must follow the UK government’s rules on arrivals from a red-list country and have a negative PCR test result within the 48 hours prior to their departure from Nigeria.”
It added, “Only British or Irish nationals or customers who have residence rights in the UK will be allowed to enter the UK, where they will be required to quarantine in a government facility.”
The airline further explained that arrivals from Nigeria would land at Heathrow Terminal 5 where any customer whose journey terminates, would be taken on a bus to Terminal 4 for processing. This, it said, would be prior to being escorted to their pre-purchased quarantine hotel, adding that the customer’s bags would also be taken directly to Terminal 4.