The Director General of the Sierra Leone Civil Aviation Authority, Madam Musayeroh Barrie has disclosed that flights to Sierra Leone are set to increase to 50 by next month.

Madam Barrie made this disclosure at the weekly government press briefing on Tuesday 17th September 2024.

Madam Barrie, will clock a year in office next month, and has made tremendous progress to attract flights to Sierra Leone while also considering compliance.

She said when she was appointed Director General, she met with her team, and they tried to figure out what can be done to encourage flights to come to Sierra Leone while keeping in focus compliance.

She said when she took over, flight frequency to the country was 37 per week, adding that her team worked hard to increase flight frequency to Sierra Leone and presently, with the introduction of the Ethiopian airline, flight frequency to the country is 47.

She announced the additional of flights come October.

“I’m happy to announce that, come October, Brussels Airlines will increase their flight frequency from three times a week to five times a week; this will take our overall frequency up to 50 times per week, which is a big achievement for the sector.”

She also said the above mentioned is not the only significant achievement, as they are in talks with two flights that will provide direct connectivity to the region.

“Well, we are happy to announce that we are in talks with two airlines that will provide direct connectivity from Sierra Leone to Guinea, Liberia, Ivory Coast, and other countries in the region,” the Director General announced.

Connectivity in the region is a problem; traveling from Sierra Leone to neighboring Liberia takes a minimum of 9 hours, and passengers will have to transit through Accra and Lome before getting to Monrovia.

Sierra Leone is bracing up for the peak period of travel, which is December. Madam Barrie said they are working to get some charter flights that will connect from London to Freetown. She is optimistic that in the next two to three months the country could see some progress on this.