NCAA suspends Gambia flights to Nigeria over Ebola

Officials said on Sunday that Nigeria has suspended the Gambian national airline from flying into the country, alleging "unsatisfactory" measures by the airline to contain the spread of Ebola virus . The Gambian national carrier flies to Lagos twice weekly. It also flies to other African countries in the region: Cameroon, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Gambia and Senegal. Read excerpts of the letter NCAA sent to Gambia Bird Airlines after the cut...

"The "NCAA (Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority) has reviewed the measures put in place by your airline as contained in your letter of 30th July, 2014 and have found these measures unsatisfactory.Consequently, your flights into Nigeria have been temporarily suspended with immediate effect until such a time that you are able to put in place acceptable and satisfactory measures , " part of the letter read.
The contents of the airline's letter to the NCAA were not disclosed.NCAA is the government agency that serves as watchdog for all airlines operating in the country.


NCAA said that part of its efforts to curb the spread of the virus was to to direct all airlines operating into Nigeria from Guinea, Freetown and Monrovia "to put in place adequate measures to ensure that passengers with this disease are not boarded and brought into the country."


"Such measures may include suspension of flights into these countries," NCAA added.