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- Emirates has confirmed its flights to South Africa, including Durban, Moneyweb reported, after days of uncertainty and a lot of politics behind the scenes.
- The airline never confirmed plans to cancel all planes to South Africa and flights to Johannesburg continued. But apparently the authorities were led to believe that SA was facing a blacklist.
- In a related development, airlines have been told that their crew can enter South Africa without presenting a negative Covid-19 test on arrival, as long as they remain locked in their hotels.
- However, that change is not yet reflected in official regulations.
- For more stories, visit www.BusinessInsider.co.za.
Emirates will continue its flights to South Africa as scheduled, business news website Moneyweb reported on Wednesday, marking the end of days of confusion over a major air route for tourists and businessmen alike.
That includes direct flights to Durban, Emirates Regional Manager for Southern Africa Fouad Caunhye told journalist Suren Naidoom, as well as direct flights to Cape Town.
Over the weekend, Emirates was reported to be close to canceling all flights to South Africa, although the airline itself never said so directly and did not respond to questions on the matter.
Meanwhile, Emirates flight EK763 continued to land at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo on a daily basis, while the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government lobbied for the rules it believed threatened flights to Durban to be changed, with the possibility of a blacklist. for the entire duration of Alert Level 1.
Airlines had raised concerns about coronavirus regulations that apply to both crew members and passengers, with the threat that an entire crew could be forced into quarantine in South Africa if any member tests positive afterward. of showing symptoms of Covid-19.
In a related development, although the issues have not been officially linked, airlines have now been told that South Africa’s strict coronavirus testing regime will not apply to aircrew.
In terms of current border regulations, anyone arriving in South Africa must prove negative for coronavirus no more than 72 hours prior.
That rule will apply to entrepreneurs from other parts of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) who need multiple entries, the home affairs department said at the weekend; Your tests will be considered valid for 14 days after they first log into SA.
Although not yet reflected in official regulations, apparently a similar exception now exists for the airline’s crew.
“Crew with a valid negative PCR test will be allowed access to South Africa,” reads an Oct. 6 notice to airmen (Notam), a formal communication sent to pilots. “The crew without a negative PCR test must remain in the contracted hotel during the stopover until they leave South Africa.”
The notice adds that aircraft operators must “ensure that contracted hotels comply with the requirements of South African health protocols.”
The airlines had argued that they could establish effective “bubbles” within which the crew could enter and exit SA, without risk to their citizens if any of them were carriers of Sars-CoV-2.
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