By Kaya 959 News
Comair has extended its suspension of all kulula.com and British Airways flights until 31 August 2021.
This comes on the back of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement that SA will remain on an adjusted level 4 lockdown for the next two weeks.
Comair CEO, Glenn Orsmond, apologised to customers affected by the suspension.
She said with the prohibition of all non-essential travel in and out of Gauteng, there is very little to no demand for business travel and international travel bans and this resulted in Comair temporarily suspending all scheduled flights from Monday, 5 July 2021.
“The intention was to recommence operations from 30 July 2021. Given the uncertainty of the expected length of the recently adjusted Level 4 lockdown, restriction of travel in and out of Gauteng coupled with the rampant transmissibility of the COVID-19 Delta variant, Comair had to make a difficult but responsible decision to further suspend flight operations,” she said.
Decision not taken lightly
Orsmond said this decision has been taken in the interest of the well-being of employees and customers.
“Without government engagement with or support for the aviation sector and associated services the ability to plan constructively for a meaningful service beyond 30 July 2021 is exceptionally challenging. Taking the potential variables into consideration, Comair plans to resume scheduled operations on Wednesday, 1 September 2021,” Orsmond said.
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She said the decision was not taken lightly as it has a significant impact on both customers and employees.
“However, under the circumstances, we believe it is the correct course of action to ensure the health and wellbeing of our customers and employees,” Orsmond said.
While Comair said it empathised with the government, it welcomed the announcement of opening vaccine registration for the 35–49-year-old group from 15 July 2021.
“This is a crucial step towards ensuring the safety of its customers and employees, as well as stimulating demand and the recovery of the economy and tourism industry.
“We anticipate the vaccine roll-out picking up pace in earnest and hope to see it reaching critical mass in the next month or two and look forward to welcoming our customers back on board on 1 September,” Orsmond said.
