EMIRATES CANCELS FLIGHTS TO SA

Emirates Airlines has cancelled several of their flights to South Africa. This comes after some of the country's borders for international travel had been opened again amid Alert Level 1 Covid-19 lockdown regulations.

eNCA reports that Emirates based their decision on the fact that the Department of Co-Operative Governance and Traditional Affairs requires that crew members be subjected to the exact same requirements as the passengers of airplanes.

Amended regulations relating to the Disaster Management Act and the National State of Disaster relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, state that passengers from high-risk countries will not be allowed to enter the country.

This includes passengers or crew members who have been in contact with someone from a high-risk country in the 10 days leading up to their arrival in South Africa.

If a person shows symptoms of Covid-19, regulations require that a person then go into quarantine at a place chosen by government but paid for by the person themselves.

Terence Delomoney, General Manager at Durban's King Shaka International Airport told eNCA that the new regulations are challenging.

"I think the entire industry is getting accustomed to the regulations and, in this particular case, regulation is how the crew gets screened, and the regulations around that. And obviously Emirates was supposed to fly into Durban today, and there were challenges in how they would comply to that regulation."

Watch the eNCA video below for more on the current state of affairs regarding Emirates and their decision to cancel flights to South Africa.

Image credit: Aviation24.be