Air France announced Wednesday it would temporarily halt flights to Freetown, Sierra Leone, because of the Ebola outbreak, at the request of the French government.
France is recommending that its citizens leave Sierra Leone and Liberia, two of the countries hardest hit by the worst ever outbreak of the disease. The government said that the increasing spread of the disease prompted its request that the airline to suspend flights. More than 1,400 people have died from Ebola in West Africa.
Air France is continuing daily service to Conakry, Guinea, and Lagos, Nigeria. The carrier does not have any scheduled service to Liberia.
The airline said that screening measures at the airports where flights are continuing “guarantee … that no passengers presenting symptoms … can board.”
Flight crews petitioned the airline earlier this month to stop flights to countries hit by Ebola. Air France’s announcement Wednesday, however, was based on the government request.
British Airways, Emirates and many regional airlines have already suspended services to the three countries most affected by the Ebola outbreak: Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
The United Nations has said the lack of flights is making it increasingly difficult to bring supplies to those countries. U.N. flights brining humanitarian workers to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, also have faced restrictions. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has recommended airlines continue service.
“The effort to defeat Ebola is not a battle but a war which requires everybody working together, hard and effectively,” David Nabarro, the British physician the U.N. has appointed to head up the response, said Monday.
Nabarro said addressing the crisis could take six months or more.
Additional reporting by the Associated Press