German Airline, Lufthansa, has suspended all flights out of Nigeria from 23 March 2020 to 19 April 2020.
This was disclosed in an email sent by the airline through its agency, Lufthansa City Centre TIFA Travels at the weekend.
In the notification, the airline explained that the decision was due to the current global situation and to curb the spread of Coronavirus, also known as COVID-19. It read,
“Lufthansa flights out of Nigeria are hereby suspended from 23 March 2020 until 19 April 2020. The last flights from Lagos, Abuja & Port Harcourt will operate on Sunday 22 March 2020, to resume on 20 April 2020 as currently planned.
“Due to the uncertainty surrounding the spread of COVID-19 in Nigeria, our offices are closed to walk-in customers until further notice, however, we can be reached via telephone lines of our ticketing offices and reservation e-mails. We hope for your understanding as we would do our utmost best to ensure a quick response to your requests.”
Lufthansa is not the only airline that has taken such decision, Turkish Airlines also suspended 14 flights across International airports in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt.
The airline said these flights were cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak. It said it had been changing its flight schedule to several destinations around the globe in accordance with international and national authorities.
“We would like to inform our passengers that due to the suspension of other routes, several of our flights to/from Nigeria will be undergoing cancellations during March.
“Passengers with tickets to the cancelled flights will be able to refund or change their tickets free of charge until the end of May if they start the process until March/April depending on the route,” Turkish airline said.
Other international carriers that have taken drastic measures to limit the spread of the deadly Coronavirus by cancelling flights and modifying their routes are American Airlines, Austrian Airlines, British Airways, Delta Airlines, Air Seoul, Oman Air, Air Mauritius, JejuAir Co Ltd, Qatar Airways, RwandAir, Scoot (Singapore Airlines), Saudia (Saudi Arabia’s state airline) and Kenya Airways, amongst others.
Recently, Emirates Airlines had reportedly asked its employees to embark on unpaid leave for up to a month due to the rapidly spreading coronavirus disease. The airline had also cancelled flights to Iran, Bahrain and to most of China because of the virus, as countries around the world continue to place strict restrictions on the entry of foreigners.