South African State-owned aerospace and defence group Denel has thanked the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) for its assistance in the repatriation of four Denel Aeronautics personnel, who had been caught in Spain by the Covid-19 pandemic. The workers safely returned on the morning of April 25 and then, as a precaution, entered quarantine.
The four had been working on a project with Airbus in Seville in Spain. Denel Aeronautics has a contract with Airbus to supply essential parts for the A400M military airlift aircraft.
These components were manufactured at the Denel Aeronautics facility in Kempton Park (at OR Tambo International Airport, east of Johannesburg). They were then transported to Seville where the final assembly of the A400M takes place. This contract had been scheduled to expire in mid-April.
However, the workers were unable to return home, because of the severe lockdown imposed in Spain – one of the European countries most affected by the disease. South Africa also imposed a national lockdown, and both countries severely restricted travel, ending all flights between the two countries.
Thanks to the assistance of Dirco, it was possible to get the four on to a South African Airways repatriation flight. This operated using the flight code SA2261.