Subsequent to suspending all international flights, South African Airways (SAA) has also announced the suspension of regional flights.
The suspension of both international and regional flights is in response to government’s travel ban aimed at stopping the transmission of COVID-19.
In a statement on Friday, the airline said due to the suspension of international flights, there has been an “immediate drastic” reduction of demand for African regional flights.
“SAA is a network carrier, which means that a significant part of the regional bookings demand is fed by the passengers that travel to or from the international destinations. Therefore, the suspension of the international flights has resulted in the airline not being able to operate its normal network.”
“This resulted in operation of regional flights not being commercially viable anymore,” said the national carrier.
As of 20 March 2020, the following flights to the following destinations have been suspended:
- Accra (Ghana),
- Lusaka (Zambia)
- Harare (Zimbabwe)
- Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe)
- Windhoek (Namibia)
- Lagos (Nigeria)
- Entebbe (Uganda).
Meanwhile, flights to Mauritius operated until Saturday, 21 March 2020.
The suspensions are in place until 31 May 2020.
“This decision means that SAA will only continue to render services on its domestic route between Johannesburg and Cape Town.”
Customers can also visit our website, www.flysaa.com, for further updates.