For two weeks, many parts of the continent reeled under the Omicron virus ban. The continent’s air travel is counting its losses, one that further slows down travel recovery, writes WOLE SHADARE
The removal of 11 African countries from the United Kingdom’s Red List is resulting in a return of air travel by many Africans, particularly from Nigeria and Southern Africa. UK carriers, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, have reestablished services and are seeing strong demand.
Reopening coming at a price
On December 14, the UK Government removed the 11 countries from the red list after it concluded that upholding restrictions was meaningless, now that the Omicron variant of the COVID virus was already inside the country. The UK has seen soaring infection rates in the past few days.
The variant was first found in South Africa, after which the government advised the World Health Organisation (WHO). Although WHO advised keeping borders open, many countries were quick to ban any travel from southern Africa.
Rise in inbound travelers
Although many of the Southern African nations originally put on the UK’s Red List do not have strong carriers to operate outside their territories, British Airways has made a full return to Johannesburg, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Nigeria and other destinations. Virgin Atlantic, another airline operating in Nigeria, is also seeing a rise in inbound passengers.
BA, in a message to its trade partners, said: “This is to inform you that all types of visa are NOW permitted to travel to the UK on British Airways with immediate effect as Nigeria has now been removed from the Red List. We will be sending more information on necessary guidelines later. In the interim, kindly follow guidelines on the UK government website.”
The surge in travel bookings seems to come from Nigerians who had earlier canceled their flights in the face of a face-off between Nigeria and the UK over the decision by London to restrict Nigerians from traveling to the UK. The lifting of the travel ban led to what a travel agent described as a ‘mad rush’ to make bookings to visit home for the Yuletide.
President, National Association of Nigerian Travel Agencies (NANTA), Mrs. Susan Akporiaye, said the scrapping of the red list was a huge reprieve for airlines and travel agents.
She said that she had to advise thousands of people who wanted to cancel their bookings in the heat of the face-off to hold on till […]