Although international commercial flights are not yet available, South Africans can leave the country on a limited number of repatriation flights.
However, only the South African Airways (SAA) can bring you back from overseas at the moment, and these flights are expensive.
The country’s boundaries remain technically closed under the level 3 regulations of the state of restriction. However, people may leave the country for the following reasons:
- For work;
- For studies;
- To be reunited with family members;
- To move permanently; or
- For medical treatment
Only South Africans are allowed to enter the country if they are repatriated and must then be in government quarantine for two weeks.
People can leave the country on the following SAA flights in the following week:
- June 13: Johannesburg to Buenos Aires at 12:00, at R15 500 for economy class and R35 500 for business class.
- June 13: Johannesburg to Sao Paulo at 12:00, at R15 000 for economy class and R35 000 for business class.
- June 14: Cape Town to Washington at 08:00, at R40 000 for economy class and R57 000 for business class.
- June 14: Johannesburg to Washington at 12:00, at R35 000 for economy class and R51 000 for business class.
- June 15: Johannesburg to Hanoi at 12:00, at R15 100 for economy class and R35 100 for business class.
- June 15: Johannesburg to Bangkok at 12:00, at R15 000 for economy class and R35 000 for business class.
- June 17: Johannesburg to Sydney at 12:00, at R15 000 for economy class and R40 000 for business class.
- June 17: Johannesburg to Dubai at 10am, at R20 500 for economy class and R40 500 for business class.
- June 20: Cape Town to Washington at 12:00, at R40 000 for economy class and R57 000 for business class.
- June 21: Johannesburg to Washington at 12:00, at R35 000 for economy class and R51 000 for business class.
- June 22: Cape Town to Washington at 12:00, at R40 000 for economy class and R57 000 for business class.
KLM offers the following flights country:
- June 17: Cape Town to Amsterdam, at R23 000 for economy class and R50 100 for business class.
- June 20 : Cape Town to Amsterdam, at R23 000 for economy class and R50 100 for business class.
- June 21 : Johannesburg to Amsterdam, at R23 000 for economy class and R50 100 for business class.
There will also be KLM flights from Cape Town on June 17 and June 20, and from Johannesburg on June 21 to the following destinations:
- The picture
- Brussels
- Prague
- Billund and Copenhagen
- Helsinki
- Parys in Bordeaux
- Berlyn, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich, Nuremburg and Stuttgart
- Budapest
- Florence, Milan, Rome and Venice
- Oslo
- Warsaw
- Lisbon
- Barcelona in Madrid
- Genève en Zurich
- Gothenburg and Stockholm
- Aberdeen, Birmingham, Dublin, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London and Manchester
In each case, travelers will first have to contact the Department of Home Affairs for permission to travel.
For this, the following documents must be sent to [email protected]:
- A copy of your South African passport;
- A letter from the embassy or consulate of the country you are planning to travel to, confirming that you will be allowed in that country;
- If traveling between airports, or by road between countries, a letter from each country to be traveled must be obtained; and
- Proof that you have the ability to travel, such as a bus or plane ticket, and the date you plan to travel.
The SAA also advises travelers to check on the International Air Transport Association’s (Iata) website what specific requirements each destination has. This information can be found at the link is checked.
Incoming flights
Only SAA is currently handling incoming flights from South Africans who want to be repatriated.
However, the DA said on Thursday that the SAA was exploiting travelers who needed to come home urgently.
Specifically, the DA says the price of repatriation flights from Washington in the US to South Africa has risen by more than 133% in “less than a week”.
According to the SAA website, these tickets currently cost R35 000 for economy class.
DA MP Ghaleb Cachim says less than a week ago the tickets cost only R15 000.
The DA will now lodge a complaint with the Competition Commission about the excessive price inflation applied by SAA.
SAA business rescuers Les Matuson and Siviwe Dongwana currently manage the airline. Business spokesperson Louise Brugman confirmed to Netwerk24 on Thursday that business rescuers are deciding on repatriation flights.
However, according to Brugman, the flight over which the DA is now insane was a route on which SAA suffered losses. Moreover, because flights are now much lower, the price simply has to rise.
The earlier price of R15 000 was because the Department of International Relations and Cooperation partially sponsored official repatriation flights, the business rescuers said in a statement.
Now that charter flights are allowed for South Africans who want to leave the country, prices must rise to cover the cost of getting the plane back into the country as well. There are not exactly passengers for the return flights because most South Africans who wanted to return have already done so with the sponsored repatriation flights.
