Ebola outbreak: BA and Whitehall pushed to restart direct flights to virus-hit countries

British aid workers and UK-based West Africans can now fly to Freetown and Liberia only via Belgium or Morocco

Numbers of new Ebola cases in Sierra Leone have dwindled (AP) (AP)

The Government and British Airways are under pressure from politicians and charities to restart direct flights between the UK and Ebola-ravaged Sierra Leone and Liberia.

BA temporarily cancelled a route linking Heathrow to Liberia, with a stopover in Sierra Leone, last August, citing the “deteriorating” health situation, but has since extended this for an “indefinite” period.

British aid workers and UK-based West Africans can now fly to Freetown and Liberia only via Belgium or Morocco. The Armed Forces can provide a faster return; yesterday, a British military health worker suspected of contracting Ebola in Sierra Leone, following a return to the UK with the RAF, was being monitored in the Royal Free Hospital, London.

Critics who have urged BA to restart direct flights believe it is ministers, scared of hysterical Ebola-threat headlines, who are blocking the reopening of the air link. It is thought the airline considers any attempt to reopen futile, believing the Department for Transport would immediately revoke its permission to fly. Last October, Gambia Bird restarted its Gatwick to Sierra Leone route, but the DfT almost instantly blocked the flights.

Conservative MP Stephen Phillips, who visited Sierra Leone six times last year, said he was “concerned that the Government is influenced by adverse media headlines”. He believes not allowing direct flights is counter-productive, as it is a “disincentive” for aid workers to travel. It would also be easier to identify anyone with Ebola on a direct flight. From Belgium, say, carriers could enter the UK by road, rail, air or ferry.

Charities believe reopening the routes is vital to rebuilding the countries’ economies, with Christian Aid’s Paul Valentin saying he was “strongly in favour of resuming flights”. Last week, there were just five confirmed cases of Ebola in Liberia, and only 65 in Sierra Leone, against more than 500 a week in December.

Labour MP Michael McCann added that the Government needs to “announce what circumstances would allow for us to reopen” direct routes.

BA said it would “keep the routes under review”, while a DfT spokesman said “the strategy remains unchanged”.