jsnydcsa

Emirates is coming back online.
https://umhambi.blogspot.com/2020/09...-to-south.html
24 September 2020
Emirates to resume flights to South Africa & Zimbabwe!
The flag carrier airline of the United Arab Emirates, Emirates, is set to resume operations to South Africa and Zimbabwe. Effective 01 October 2020, the airline will return to OR Tambo International Airport (JNB) in Johannesburg, Cape Town International Airport (CPT) in Cape Town and Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport (HRE) in Harare. Three days later, on 04 October 2020, Emirates will resume flights to King Shaka International Airport (DUR) in Durban. Flight schedules for the airline’s South African destinations will be available later this week. Emirates will operate to Harare with two weekly flights linked to its service to Kenneth Kaunda International Airport (LUN) in Lusaka.

YorkieFlyer

do they know something we don't?

jrl767

at the corporate level, they know (and we can only speculate about) their internal financial situation, risk tolerance, and belief/understanding of the risk tolerance of the people who make up their target markets

T8191

As ZA seems to be regarding 'all of Africa' as a notionally safe source of tourists, perhaps there;s an element of that?

johan rebel

Despite the concerted efforts of the airline industry, a recent survey in the UK shows that only 24% of respondents think flying is safe. That's a very low figure, lower even than for buses (26%), trains (30%) and ferries (32%). It's probably safe to assume that the numbers are similar in other western countries.

What it boils down to is that sizeable majorities believe that mass transportation of any kind is unsafe. That's irrational, but unsurprising given that we have all been spoon-fed Covid paranoia for at least eight months now.

Johan

thijsseh

Both BA and EK have South African destinations in their commercial schedules from 1 October. Probably other airlines too, I have not done an extensive check on that.
I may have missed any announcement about what sort of entry restrictions there will be for different countries of origin (quarantine, testing etc). Is there a good overview (preferably a link to a site which gets updated) for that?

Ditto

KL have also announced they will fly from Oct 1st, and JNB flights are bookable via the website, CPT on the other hand is a bit odd as there seems to be "leftovers" of repatriation flights not removed and "commercial" schedule not updated yet.
There is no information yet on entry from which countries will be allowed, with the exception that all African countries are considered "safe".

escape2sun

Apparently CPT airport has been approved for international travel, but we await the list of Green countries

Mbalula said that finalising the list was a process: “The Department of Health is leading us. So, when we take decisions about lower-risk countries, today South Africa is part of the high-risk countries. So, we need to be guided regarding that.”

https://ewn.co.za/2020/09/25/mbabula...ational-travel

thijsseh

The interesting fact is that, using the infections over the past 14 days per 100K population, South Africa is currently (i.e. today 25 September) on a par with Italy, Greece and Sweden. All of which are currently on the UK travel corridor list. So to call South Africa 'part of high-risk countries' is a bit surprising.

johan rebel

As if there's anybody who can actually give a rational definition of what constitutes a high-risk country.

Johan

T8191

The "Numbers Game" can be so misleading, unfortunately, and there' a lot more than that associated with "Risk Assessment".

An interesting piece on the BBC News link this morning ...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-53181555

Also worth reading the embedded links further down the page.

• Could South Africa's fatality rate be misleading?
• Surprise theory for South Africa's low death rate

johan rebel

Yes, interesting, but raises more questions than it answers.

"And research from the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) indicates the number of people who have died from the virus could be much higher than reported. It says excess deaths, which is the difference between deaths over a particular period and the historical average, rose by 17,000 - that's a 59% increase compared with previous years."

- mortality stats are nowhere near reliable in many countries, and cause-of-death ones notoriously unreliable even in affluent democracies with excellent health care systems. They often don't rise above the level of the certifying physician's best guess.

- the unstated assumption that any and all excess deaths are due to C-19 is facile, to put it mildly.

- the historical average one compares to may distort the picture for all sorts of reasons.

And so forth, and so on.

It's complicated!

Johan

cheltzel

Not directly related to this thread but an interesting way with dealing with COVID-19 detection on arriving at an airport.

https://www.sciencealert.com/dogs-de...rfect-accuracy

johan rebel

Any viable alternative to the current chaotic mess should be warmly welcomed.

Johan

HGOLI

Apparently it's 'World Tourism Day' today. Is someone having a laugh!

As soon as SA opens to the UK, I'm booking!