Last flights for now: British Airways, Kulula and Lift Airlines

Three of the country’s privately owned airlines will fly for the last time today, after having decided to temporarily suspend their flight operations from Monday 5 July, for almost the entire month of July.

IMPACT OF LOCKDOWN RESTRICTIONS

The recently announced lockdown Level 4 measures imposed by government in an effort to curb the spread of Covid-19 as South Africa hits its third wave of infections is having dire consequences for the country’s tourism, aviation and hospitality sectors.

The revised lockdown regulations prohibit non-essential travel to and from Gauteng, which is severely affecting the operations of most of the country’s airlines that offer flights to and from Johannesburg.

BRITISH AIRWAYS AND KULULA

Privately owned Comair, which operates the local franchise of the British Airways brand, as well as the budget airline Kulula.com will suspend all flights from Monday 5 July.

Comair has suspended all fights for both of these airlines for the period 5 to 30 July. The company aims to restart its services on 30 July but says that the resumption of its scheduled flights is subject to lockdown regulations being eased and Covid-19 infection rates, particularly in Gauteng, being contained.

 Comair CEO, Glenn Orsmond apologised to customers affected by the flight suspension.

“This was a difficult decision, but we believe under the circumstances is the right course of action for our loyal customers and employees,” Orsmond said.

LIFT AIRLINES GROUNDED

South Africa’s newest low-cost carrier Lift Airlines, which began operations just 7 months ago has also cancelled all scheduled flights for the period 5 to 31 July. 

The ban on leisure travel to and from Gauteng has seriously impacted Lift’s operations. The budget airline only operates flights between Johannesburg and Cape Town.

LIFT’s CEO Jonathan Ayache said all affected travellers will be provided with alternative flights or they may take advantage of the airline’s flexible ticket options to rebook for future dates or to cancel their flights use the credit for future flight bookings.

“It’s a frustrating time for South Africans. For now, stay safe, and we can’t wait to be flying around our beautiful country again soon,” Ayache said.