#CoronavirusinSA also clips the wings of SAA regional flights
National airline, SAA, has been forced to also suspend its Africa regional flights until the end of May 2020.
The embattled airline says it is due to the knock-on effect after the announcement yesterday that all off SAA's international flights were suspended with immediate effect until 31 May 2020.
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SAA suspends all international flights
SAA says in a statement that the service will be suspended until 31 May. SAA spokesperson, Tlali Tlali says the suspension is in response to a government's travel ban aimed at stopping the transmission of the coronavirus. "The COVID-19 pandemic and attendant travel restrictions resulted in substantial decline in demand for air travel.
“As a direct consequence of this suspension, there was an immediate drastic reduction of demand for the African regional flights. SAA is a network carrier, which means that a significant part of the regional bookings demand is fed by the passengers that travel to or from the international destinations,” reads the statement.
The suspension of SAA’s international flights is in support of the government travel ban that aims to stop the further transmission of COVID-19.
The suspension of international flights has resulted in regional flights not being commercially viable any longer.
Flights to the following destinations have been suspended as of 20 March 2020 until 31 May 2020:
Accra (Ghana)
Lusaka (Zambia)
Harare (Zimbabwe)
Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe)
Windhoek (Namibia)
Lagos (Nigeria)
Entebbe (Uganda).
Mauritius will operate until Saturday, 21 March 2020.
This decision means that SAA will only continue to render services on its domestic route between Johannesburg and Cape Town.