Arik Air has declared the suspension of all flights to West Coast destinations effective from Monday, March 23, 2020.
This decision was made after a careful analysis of the trend of the Coronavirus disease pandemic in the last few weeks.
“The safety and well-being of our personnel and valued customers are paramount at this critical time. We do not want to take chances and this is why we have taken this decision,” Chief Executive Officer of Arik Air, Captain Roy Ilegbodu, said in a statement on Wednesday.
He noted that the management reached the decision with the welfare of passengers, topmost on their minds.
The airline apologized to customers whose travel plans would be affected by the suspension of flights and promised to mitigate the effects by ensuring a prompt refund of tickets.
Why this matters: The Federal Government, on Wednesday, restricted public officials from travelling outside the country, and also placed a ban on flights coming in from high-risks countries where over 100 cases of COVID-19 has been recorded.
With this ban, Arik Air will not be flying routes along which the continental Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. This includes coastal states such as California, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska.
