The United Arab Emirates airline announced on Thursday that it would temporarily suspend all flights to South Africa. No service will be performed from Dubai between Saturday, January 16, and Thursday, January 28. The airline said the reasons for the suspension are “operational”, but did not provide further details.
The decision affects all Emirates passengers between Dubai and South Africa. Those traveling from other locations with SA as their final destination will not be able to board at their initial point of origin.
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Final flights before suspension departed on Friday
The final services before the break takes effect are today, Friday, January 15th. Two flights have already left Dubai for Cape Town (EK772) and Johannesburg (EK763), with the latter continuing to Durban (EK775) later in the day.
“Emirates regrets any inconvenience caused. Affected customers should contact their Emirates travel agent or contact center for rescheduling options, ” an Emirates spokesman told Gulf News.
Emirates operates a six-week service to Cape Town and a daily service to Johannesburg. Both routes are operated by the airline’s Boeing 777.
Simple Flying has contacted Emirates for more details on the suspensions, but has not yet received a response at the time of publication. This article can be updated with more information at a later stage.
SA flights banned in several countries
Although it must be reiterated that Emirates says the suspension is due to operational reasons, the suspension came because several countries have banned flights from South Africa.
After confirmation of a new, more infectious strain of SARS-CoV-2 in mid-December, Israel, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Denmark, Turkey, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong have banned flights from the country. Many of them also do not allow the entry of any traveler who has visited South Africa in recent weeks.
The Netherlands and Switzerland did the same at first, but later partially reversed their decisions. The first allows arrivals based on a negative PCR test, no later than 72 hours before the scheduled arrival time. The latter is open for limited flight operations to allow Swiss citizens to return home.
More contagious, not more deadly
Among the first countries to ban flights from South Africa on December 20, Israel detected at least four cases of the new strain due to advanced testing. Although the variant is more contagious, there is no indication that it is more deadly.
Cases in South Africa have increased since the beginning of the new year, and the country has closed its land borders.
“The number of new infections, hospital admissions and deaths is now greater than ever, since the first case was registered in our country in March 2020,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a statement earlier this week seen by Simple Flying. He added that since the New Year, the country has registered about 190,000 new cases of COVID-19.
Have you been affected by Emirates flight suspension or do you know someone who is? Tell us about it in the comments.