South Africa has decided to temporarily suspend all air travel to, from and within the country to avoid the spread of Coronavirus.
This move came into effect on Friday and is set to last for three weeks. As a result, all airlines in South Africa have suspended operations for a period of time, and international airlines stopped their flight services to the country.
Flag-carrier South African Airways (SAA) at the time only operated a small number of domestic flights, exclusively between Johannesburg and Cape Town.
South African Airways is suspending all international and regional flights until May 31. The airline will only operate on the Johannesburg to Cape Town route during this period.
— International Flight Network (@FlightIntl) March 20, 2020
After the government’s announcement, SAA said that its domestic flights will be suspended until April 16. International flights are even cancelled until the end of May.
The financially struggling airline further says that its call centers will not be operative during the three-week period. Meanwhile, its CEO Zuks Ramasia is stepping down on April 14, therefore leaving the company before the end of South Africa’s lockdown.
Apart from SAA, the largest airlines from the country are regional carriers South African Express and South African Airlink, low-cost carrier Kulula, Mango and FlySafair, and British Airways affiliate Comair.
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Jakob Wert is an aviation journalist from Germany. He built up the website IFN.news and is the Editor-In-Chief of International Flight Network.