Delta Air Lines has maintained a strong health and safety records on its one year of flight operations between the Lagos Murtala Muhammed International Airport and United States after a short hiatus due to COVID-19.
As Delta approaches its 14th anniversary of flying to Nigeria, customers have enjoyed uninterrupted service for the past 12 months after the airline was forced to temporarily halt its operations to Lagos at the height of the pandemic.
Delta now flies daily to Atlanta, its biggest hub, from where there are dozens of same-day connections to cities throughout the U.S.
In addition to regular cleaning of the aircraft, the airline said there are enhanced safety measures during the meal service to protect the customers and crew.
Despite this, Delta’s famous hospitality remains, including a choice of meal featuring African and American favourites, plus a huge array of on-demand entertainment that now includes playlists and podcasts curated by Spotify.
The airline also said it is offering ticket flexibility until the end of the year should customers need to change their plans.
Delta’s Sales Director for Africa, Middle East and India, Jimmy Eichelgruen, said: “We know how important travel is to our customers and how much they missed it during the peak of the pandemic.
“As we returned to flying, keeping our customers and crew safe has always been our number one priority and offering daily service to the U.S. provides choice and flexibility when they are ready to fly again.”
This December, Delta will mark 15 years of flying to Africa. In addition to Lagos, it also flies nonstop to the U.S. from Accra, Ghana; Dakar, Senegal; and Johannesburg, South Africa.
Meanwhile, last week, Delta announced the results of a study which showed that the risk of testing positive for COVID-19 while travelling after all passengers test negative 72 hours in advance of a flight is less than 0.1 per cent.
The research examined real-world customer data on Delta’s COVID-tested flight corridors between New York-JFK, Atlanta and Italy’s Fiumicino International Airport.
The research conducted Georgia Department of Health and Mayo Clinic in conjunction with Delta found that when the average community infection rate was at 1.1 per cent or about one in 100 people the infection rates on COVID-19-tested flights were 0.05 per cent, or five in 10,000 passengers.
