Flight ban: The Gambia retaliates, bans flight from Nigeria over Ebola

The Gambia government has placed a ban on air passengers bound for Banjul from Nigeria. It may look like retaliation as  Nigeria, on August 10, suspended the Gambian national airline, Gambia Bird Airlines, from flying into the country, due to what the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) described as the airline’s “unsatisfactory” measures to contain the spread of Ebola virus.

Gambia’s new decision was an extension of similar action taken earlier which barred some airline companies in Banjul from picking passengers from Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, countries hardest hit by the epidemic.

The permanent secretary at the country’s Transport Ministry, Abdoulie O. Camara, said Monday that airlines such as Gambia Bird and Royal Air Maroc have been written to immediately stop bringing passengers from the affected zones to The Gambia.

According to him, the Ministry was working closely with the Gambia Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) to closely monitor the situation, adding that at the moment, all the airlines that have offices in the country are cooperating.