Kenya Airways has suspended all flights to Liberia and Sierra Leone as of August 19th, in a bid to help prevent the spread of the ongoing Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
The airline stated that the decision to suspend operations is based on a risk assessment from Kenya's Ministry of Health.
The airline said: "As we have indicated before, we are dependent on expert advice for our continued operations from the Ministry of Health and WHO. Kenya wishes to confirm that we will comply with the advice to suspend our commercial flight operations to Liberia and Sierra Leone."
Kenya Airways Group Managing Director and CEO, Titus Naikuni, said: "I wish to confirm that Kenya Airways will continue operating all its scheduled flights to Nigeria and Ghana. However, in the interest of public safety, we reserve the right to cancel our flights to any other destination should the situation warrant.”
Kenya Airways had previously stated as recently as August 12th that it would continue to operate to the affected region. At the time, it said, "Withdrawing our flights to these key destinations given the safeguard already placed by the respective governments and global health authorities would amount to a corporate placement of unnecessary travel advisory."
The day before the change in policy, Kenya’s Consumer Federation (COFEK) sought a court injunction to force Kenya Airways to stop servicing all its West African destinations that are exposed to the Ebola outbreak.