Tourists, foreign workers and students stranded in South Africa by the 21-day COVID-19 lockdown will be able to return home on chartered flights operated by South African Airways (SAA).
This was announced on Thursday by SAA’s business rescue practitioners Les Matuson and Siviwe Dongwana.
The first of these chartered flights will be for the repatriation of German citizens to their home country. They are expected to depart from Friday — from Johannesburg to Munich and Cape Town to Frankfurt.
Negotiations are ongoing with other governments for the repatriation of their citizens.
South Africa’s skies were closed to all passenger air travel, with the exception of cargo flights delivering essential supplies, for the 21-day national lockdown starting at midnight on March 26.
“Subsequent to the announcement and the start of the lockdown, representatives of several governments have engaged with the joint business rescue practitioners of SAA to consider having SAA provide the safe passage of their citizens to their respective home countries,” the practitioners said in a statement.
