One of the big changes which was implemented when South Africa moved to COVID-19 alert level 3 was allowing domestic air travel for essential business travel.
There are, however, restrictions on the number of daily flights and only four airports are allowed to operate – OR Tambo, Cape Town International, King Shaka, and Lanseria.
To ensure the safety of travellers and curb the spread of the virus, these airports have been prepared to meet regulatory and health requirements.
These include restrictions on who is allowed into the terminal buildings, how far travellers are allowed to stand and sit from one another, and how many can be loaded onto terminal buses.
Under level 3 regulations, only passengers are allowed inside the airport terminal buildings.
Temperature screening is conducted at terminal building entrances before passengers are allowed entry, and passengers without facemasks will not be given access to terminal buildings.
Physical distancing will be enforced throughout the airport and sectional boarding will be implemented to avoid unnecessary contact within the aircraft.
Inside the aircraft, full capacity will be allowed, Mbalula said, adding that the risk of COVID-19 infection onboard a commercial passenger airliner is lower than in many other confined spaces.
“All our commercial aircraft are fitted with High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters,” he said.
Catering and magazines will not be allowed in the cabin, and the last rows of the aircraft will be reserved for isolation.
Airlines who will start to fly from next week
Four airlines indicated that they will start to operate in June – Mango, Cemair, SA Airlink, and FlySafair.
SA Airlink is already operating a limited scheduled domestic air service with flights between Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban.
Cemair started to offer flights between Johannesburg and Cape Town on 5 June and added Durban to the mix on 8 June.
Mango Airlines said it will resume flying on Monday 15 June and new bookings are now open.
FlySafair also said it is “delighted to announce that from 15 June we’ll be flying again per government level 3 restrictions”.
Many people raised concern about flight prices because of limited demand and restrictions related to the lockdown.
Here is how much it will cost for a one-way flight between on 15 June 2020.
Flight Prices | |||
---|---|---|---|
Airline | From | To | Price |
Mango | Johannesburg | Cape Town | R1,206 |
FlySafair | Johannesburg | Cape Town | R1,220 |
SA Airlink | Johannesburg | Cape Town | R1,873 |
Cemair | Johannesburg | Cape Town | R2,240 |
FlySafair | Johannesburg | Durban | R618 |
Mango | Johannesburg | Durban | R756 |
Cemair | Johannesburg | Durban | R1,513 |
SA Airlink | Johannesburg | Durban | R1,561 |
FlySafair | Cape Town | Durban | R1,119 |
Mango | Cape Town | Durban | R1,331 |
SA Airlink | Johannesburg | Durban | R3,443 |
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