Africa World Airlines (AWA) says it is reducing its local flights by 20 per cent.

Regional flights will also be reduced by 45 per cent as government’s new travel advisory reduces passenger numbers.

The advisory, which came in force on Tuesday bars the entry of non-Ghanaian citizens from endemic regions from entering into the jurisdiction.

Sean Mendez, the Chief Operations Officer of Africa World Airlines told JoyBusiness that “The advisory essentially bans non-essential travel to Ghana has already started showing its effect. We saw a 20% dip in bookings just after the announcement.”

He added, “we have trimmed our capacity on regional routes by 45% and our domestic routes by 20%. But we are going to continue to maintain our services to all our routes so long as it is feasible to do that.”

“Although the revenues will take a hit, there’s also some cost savings when the aircraft is not flying so we should be ok.”

Despite the setbacks, the company is poised to manage the financial shock and will not be laying-off staff.

Mr Mendez said, “At this point, we are not considering any layoffs but we encourage non-essential staff to take their outstanding leave days.

"We are working with a thin staff mostly the essential and operational staff and we have put in precautionary measures.”

He added, “All our staff in the office and airside have their protective gloves and nose mask and we encourage regular hand washing and the use of sanitizers to avoid any exposure.”

More measures such as regular fumigation of the aircraft before and after flights according to the Chief Operations Officer are also being undertaken the airline to ensure passenger safety.