Even more South Africans stranded abroad following airlines' confusion over lockdown
26 March 2020
The Democratic Alliance (DA) calls on the Departments of Transport and International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) to urgently engage with international airlines on the specifics of air travel ahead of the nationwide lockdown. This comes after the DA has been fielding queries from South Africans stranded in airports all over the world as airlines have purportedly been informed that airports in South Africa are now closed - despite the lockdown only being enforced from midnight tonight.
South Africans coming off a cruise liner in Rome, Italy have been left stranded at the airport along with passengers in Dubai, Doha, Maldives, Angola and Heathrow, all for the same reason. In fact, it seems the only two airlines making the journey to OR Tambo currently are KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Turkish Airlines.
We need clarity as to why only certain airlines are permitted into the country whilst others are telling passengers that they cannot enter.
This also means that a number of South Africans outside of the country, who were making their way home before the lockdown in compliance with the announcement by the President, will be left stranded.