Lufthansa Airline has resumed its flights to Nigeria after eight months suspension due to Coronavirus pandemic. The first Lufthansa flight arrived in Lagos on Thursday, 03 December 2020.
This was disclosed in a statement issued by the airline on Friday and seen by Nairametrics.
According to the airline, it is expected to do up to eight weekly departures scheduled from Lagos and Abuja Airports to Frankfurt. The German carrier also will offer up to five weekly departures from Lagos to Frankfurt and starting on 08 December also connect the capital Abuja with three weekly departures.
Adenike Macaulay, General Manager, Nigeria & Equatorial Guinea Lufthansa Group Airlines, said, “All intending travellers to Nigeria must have tested negative for Covid-19 as PCR test in the country of departure pre-boarding. The PCR test must be done within 120 hours before departure and preferably within 72 hours pre-boarding. International travellers will require a second test to be done in Nigeria, seven days after arrival.
“All long-haul flights depart from Nigeria in the evening as overnight flights, arriving in Lufthansa’s main hub Frankfurt in the early morning. This allows all passengers from Nigeria to get the full choice of connecting flights to European, American and Asian destinations, leaving all from the same terminal 1.
‘’As we have received the final permission to reopen our flight operations, we are happy to be the first airline to reconnect Nigeria directly to the centre of Europe and onwards to all other continents. We offer a considerable number of flights to the US and Canada, allowing our Nigerian guests to have family members and friends again at reach throughout the world. Health and safety continue to be our top priority and we are committed to maintaining strict adherence to hygiene regulations for all our flights.”
Lufthansa has notified its patrons of the suspension of 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 and seen by Nairametrics.
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.”
