Brussels Airlines is forced to cancel its flights between Brussels Airport, Belgium and Monrovia Airport, Liberia until further notice. In a statement to Liberian newspapers, the Belgian airline explained that it had to take the drastic measure as the airport lacks proper approach and landing systems in accordance with the airline’s operating procedures and with international aviation law.
FrontpageAfrica knows that the ICAO gave Liberia three months time to repair the damaged equipment, including the navigation systems and the Instrument Landing System (ILS) Localizer at the airport of Monrovia.
During a “grace period” of three months, Brussels Airlines was still able to operate flights towards the country but has now informed the airport authorities that it no longer can continue to risk its aircraft and flout Belgian aviation laws.
The airport also faces other problems as on 27 April, Brussels Airlines had to turn back to Freetown, Sierra Leone over a power outage at the airport of Monrovia.
Reporters have been told that a complete renovation to fix all the problems would cost around $20 million.
Today’s flight SN241 towards Monrovia via Freetown has been cancelled. The airline confirmed to Aviation24.be that it will operate today’s flight to Freetown in combination with Abidjan, Ivory Coast and Cotonou, Benin as SN1233 with an extra crew.
UPDATE 17 September:
Just a day after its cancellation, the airline announced that it is resuming its flights from Europe to Liberia effectively immediately following assurances from the Liberian authorities that glitches have been addressed.
A communication confirming the resumption states: “On Friday, 16th September, Brussels Airlines received official confirmation from the local authorities that the required technical and operational prerequisites to operate are fulfilled. The Belgian airline will therefore resume its operations between Brussels as of this moment, with a next scheduled fight on Sunday, 18th September.” (source: frontpageafricaonline)