South African private-sector airline group Comair announced on Tuesday that it was extending its voluntary suspension of scheduled flights by both its brands until August 31. Comair’s brands are British Airways (operated by Comair) and low cost carrier Kulula.com.
This decision follows South African President Cyril Ramaphosa‘s announcement on Sunday that the country’s modified Level 4 lockdown, aimed at containing the Delta variant of the Covid-19 disease, would remain in force for at least another two weeks. This lockdown, originally imposed on June 28, banned all unnecessary travel to and from Gauteng province. The result was that business travel demand collapsed, leading Comair to suspend, temporarily, all of its scheduled flights from July 5.
The airline had hoped to restart operations on July 30, but the uncertainty surrounding the length of time that the new lockdown would remain in force has obliged Comair to extend its suspension of operations until the end of August. The uncertainty is caused by the fact that Covid-19 Delta is extremely transmittable.
“This decision was not made lightly, as it has a significant impact on both our customers and our employees,” stated Comair CEO Glenn Orsmond. “However, under the circumstances we believe it is the correct course of action to ensure the health and wellbeing of our customers and employees. We empathise with government’s unenviable position with regards to balancing the health of the nation and the suffering economy.”
Kulula.com tickets booked for the period June 28, 2021 to August 31, 2021 will remain valid until August 31, 2022. No fees will be charged for changing bookings, nor will any differences in fares be charged. British Airways (operated by Comair) tickets are covered by the British Airways ‘Book with Confidence’ policy, which allows ticket holders to change their dates and/or destinations, or cancel their tickets, without having to pay additional fees.
“We also welcome the announcement opening vaccine registration for the 35-49-year-old age group from 15 July 2021,” he added. “This is a crucial step towards ensuring the safety of our customers and our employees, as well as stimulating demand and the recovery of our 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.”