Aftermath of Ebola, Arik restores flight services to Freetown

Nigerian carrier, Arik Air, has concluded plans to resume flight services from Lagos to Freetown, Sierra Leone. The airline said restoration of flight services would commence February 23, 2016.

According to the carrier, flights from Lagos to Freetown were suspended in July 2014 at the outbreak of the Ebola virus in some West African nations, adding that the resumed service would entail a new schedule with flights from Lagos to Freetown now routed via Accra, Ghana.

This will be a three weekly flight to be operated on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, using a Boeing 737-800 Next Generation (NG) aircraft configured to carry 20 Business Class and 126 Economy Class passengers.

Outbound flights will depart Lagos for Accra at 7:20am. The flight then departs Accra at 8:05am and arrives in Freetown at 10:30am. The inbound flight leaves Freetown at 11:15am and arrives Accra at 1:40pm. The flight then continues onto Lagos, leaving Accra at 2:25pm to arrive Lagos at 4:25pm. All times are local.

Arik Air made its foray into Freetown in June 2009, and had operated uninterrupted until July 2014.

Chris Ndulue, Arik Air’s managing director, said, on the resumption of flights to Freetown, that “Arik Air is the dominant carrier in West and Central Africa and air travellers in this region look up to us to fly them to their destinations. We want to assure our loyal customers on the Lagos-Freetown route that we are back to deliver the safe, secure and reliable services that are the hallmark of Arik Air.”