Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 26 November (HL3704), whether they have completed their review of the possibility of resuming direct flights to Sierra Leone, and if so, whether they are currently processing any permissions for flights to begin.

The Government has now lifted the restriction on direct, scheduled, commercial air services between Sierra Leone and the UK. The Department is aware of one company that has applied for, and been issued, a Foreign Aircraft Operating Permit by the Civil Aviation Authority to operate services between Sierra Leone and the UK.