Omicron variant
British Airways flies to South Africa again
British Airways machines at Heathrow Airport. Photo: PA Wire / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
The return journey is now possible for stranded passengers. In Great Britain, however, a ten-day hotel quarantine awaits them.
The airline British Airways resumes its flight connections to South Africa after a temporary stop because of the Omikron variant. The first flights to the country should take off again on Monday, as a spokesman for the airline announced to the German press agency on request.
Flights from South Africa should start again on Wednesday (December 1st). The aim is to help people who have had problems getting home due to the temporary flight stop.
Great Britain has put South Africa and several other countries in Africa on the so-called red list because of the spread of the worrying omicron variant of the coronavirus. For those returning from these countries, this means that they are obliged to quarantine a hotel for ten days at their own expense after entering the country.
The British government announced on Thursday that it would temporarily stop all flights from South Africa and five other countries in southern Africa. This temporary decision was made primarily in order to be able to create sufficient capacity for the hotel quarantine, explained a spokesman for the Ministry of Transport.