The Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) announced on Friday that it had, in conjunction with the other appropriate authorities, implemented the air travel restrictions decreed by the government, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. These restrictions apply to air travellers from designated high risk countries, namely China, France, Germany, Iran, Italy, South Korea, Spain, the UK and the US.

Scheduled flights from high-risk countries would be handled by three ACSA airports. These were OR Tambo International (Johannesburg), Cape Town International, and King Shaka International (Durban).

Charter flights would be directed to ACSA airports with the requisite Port Health facilities to manage suspected Covid-19 cases. There were six of these; in addition to the three that would also handle scheduled flights, there were Bram Fischer International Airport (Bloemfontein), Port Elizabeth International Airport and Upington International Airport.

As a result of the travel bans which had been imposed, a number of measures would be enforced. Should, for example, an airliner from a high risk country land at a South African airport, Air Traffic and Navigation Services (the country’s air traffic management agency) and ACSA would direct it to a remote parking apron and inform the appropriate authorities.

Foreign citizens from high risk countries would not be allowed to disembark from the plane. South African citizens would be clinically assessed and quarantined at once. Inbound crew would also be screened and quarantined.

Acsa noted that a number of airlines had started to cancel their scheduled services. Passengers should contact their airlines for information. ACSA expressed regret at the inconvenience caused to both passengers and crews by the travel bans. However, “minimising” the dissemination of Covid-19 was the priority.