Hundreds more British travellers are set to return home from Nigeria on three flights chartered by the UK Government. The country’s high commission has announced in Lagos.
More than 1,700 British travellers have already returned to the UK on special charter flights in April and May from Lagos and Abuja.
Details of the new flights shows that the first of the evacuation flight will take place on Friday 29 May from Lagos to London, followed by another on Monday 1 June from Lagos to London while that of Abuja to London will take place on Saturday 6 June.
A UK organised special internal charter flight will travel from Port Harcourt to Abuja on Saturday 6 June to enable British nationals based in, or near, Port Harcourt to join the 6 June flight from Abuja to London.
Minister of State for Africa, James Duddridge, said: “Brits in Nigeria will now have access to additional repatriation flights, meaning hundreds more will be able to fly home. We’ve already arranged for around 1,700 people to return home to their friends and family and continue to support British nationals who remain in the country”.
Catriona Laing, the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, said: “I am delighted to announce a third wave of flights to take more of our British travellers home from Nigeria – adding to the 1,700 people we’ve already helped since airports closed on 23 April.
If you are eligible and wish to return to the UK, I’d urge you to book seats on these flights as they are likely to be the last charter flights available”.
The UK government is working with the airline industry and host governments across the world to bring British travellers home as part of the plan announced by the Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on 30 March – with up to £75 million available for special charter flights to priority countries, focused on helping the most vulnerable travellers. The High Commission added.
So far, charter flights have returned British travellers from countries including India, the Philippines, Ecuador, Bolivia, Nepal, Ghana, Tunisia, Algeria and Peru.
