Airlines stare at fresh storm as new Corona variant emerges

Airlines stare at fresh storm as new Corona variant emerges

Airlines, including national carrier Kenya Airways, are staring at a slowdown in business ahead of the festive season as nations impose new travel restrictions on South Africa and seven other countries due to a highly infectious new coronavirus strain.

The discovery of the new Omicron coronavirus variant in South Africa has caused a panic move globally forcing nations to impose travel bans.

The European Union, the United States, Israel, United Arab Emirates, the UK, among other nations, have suspended flights to southern Africa while Singapore, Italy, and Israel have placed all of those nations, plus Mozambique, on their red lists.

Kenya Airways has said it will not fly passengers coming in from Southern African countries to Dubai after UAE stopped admission of persons from these countries to their territory.

The new variant is likely to hit transit passengers who use Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as a hub for connecting flights.

Qatar Airways has announced that it has suspended flights to and from South Africa, Mozambique, Angola and Zambia.

Rwanda became the first East African nation to suspend direct flights between Kigali and Southern African courtiers.

The new variant is likely to hit transit passengers who use Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as a hub for connecting flights.

Kenya has enhanced screening of travellers from South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana, Eswatini, Zimbabwe, and Hong Kong with the health acting director-general Patrick Amoth saying that they would be required to present proof of vaccination before being allowed in.

Travellers are also required to present a negative Covid -19 test result obtained 96 hours before arrival into the country. British Airways on Friday said it was contacting affected customers by the ban on flights from Southern Africa while another airline, Virgin Atlantic said it would be reviewing its schedule for South Africa for the coming week, with flights from Johannesburg to Heathrow cancelled between noon on Friday and 04:00 on Sunday.

The latest Covid-19 crisis is already causing a storm in the aviation sector with players such as Kenya Airways expected to suffer disruptions at a time they had projected bigger businesses coinciding with the Christmas festivities.The global aviation industry had started showing signs of recovery as more countries opened their borders with an increase in the rate of vaccinations, giving hopes to the sector that was hit hard by the pandemic.International Air Travel Association (IATA) said the sector recorded an 18 percent growth in September, compared with the previous month, in what […]

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