While TAP dithers, another Portuguese airline attached to the Pestana Group has stepped into the breach and reopened the air link between Lisbon and Guinea-Bissau.
As Euroatlantic Airways boss José Caetano Pestana told Lusa this week, “there are a lot of people who need to come to Portugal, whether for health reasons or others. It’s necessary to help”.
The link has been privately contracted by the new Guinea-Bissau government, which has been keen to resume flight connections with Portugal since TAP pulled the plug last year.
TAP’s reasoning – the flight was effectively hijacked by 74 Syrians, all travelling on bogus papers – has since been reinforced by the rapid spread of the Ebola virus in neighbouring West African countrie , of which the closest to Guinea-Bissau, Guinea-Conakry, is dubbed “ground zero” of the outbreak.
Only last week, local reporter Frankie Edozien claimed “Ebola is getting worse in Guinea and no one’s paying any attention”. Thus TAP’s reluctance to resume air links can be understood.
Meantime, scientists have discovered that genetic make-up can determine whether people recover from Ebola, or not.
In a study published this week in Science magazine, researchers claim that mice infected with the virus showed different reactions. While the majority died, some simply suffered passing infections, while others showed no signs of infection whatsoever.
