This is a rapidly evolving situation linked to ongoing military activity in the Middle East. This article will be updated as new updates become available.
Airlines operating flights between South Africa and key Middle East hubs have announced adjustments to their limited flight schedules and policies.
Emirates, Qatar Airways, Turkish Airlines and SAA have issued updated advisories outlining their reduced flight schedules and updated rebooking, rerouting and refunding policies.
Emirates
Emirates is operating a reduced flight schedule to South Africa and has updated its refund and rebooking policies.
The reduced flight schedule for March 15-28 is currently operating as planned, however Emirates notes that this plan is subject to change and that further adjustments may occur based on operational needs and airspace availability.
Under the airline’s Disruption Handling Policy, passengers travelling up to April 15 may rebook or reroute free of charge for travel up to May 31 within the same region, in any RBD within the same cabin.
For refunds, the airline urged agents to ensure all calculations were included to ensure the application was considered and approved.
For more information, see Travelinfo.
Qatar
Qatar has adjusted its limited flight schedule, which will operate between March 18 and 28.
Qatar plans to operate flights from Johannesburg, via Doha, to the following destinations, on March 20, 22, 23, 25 and 27:
- London Heathrow, Manchester and Birmingham
- Dublin
- Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich
- Paris
- Barcelona and Madrid
- Athens
- Larnaca
- Milan
- Zurich
- Warsaw
- Copenhagen
- Prague
- Bucharest
- Moscow
- Delhi and Kochi
- Colombo
- Kathmandu
- Manila
- New York JFK
Availability on these flights remains constrained and is subject to change.
For more information, see Travelinfo.
SAA
In a March 18 notice, SAA announced the suspension of the following codeshare flights operated by Emirates due to regional airspace closures.
Between JNB and DXB:
• SA7160, SA7159
Between CPT and DXB:
• SA7155, SA7154
Customers with reservations on SAA codeshare flights operated by Emirates between until April 15 can be rebooked on the next available SAA codeshare operated by Emirates, for travel on or before April 30.
Customers who no longer wish to travel may cancel and apply for the full value of the ticket to be credited to the Voyager Credit Wallet, valid for three years or request a full refund to the original form of payment for tickets issued on SAA (083) stock only.
For more information, see Travelinfo.
Turkish Airlines
All Turkish Airlines’ passengers booked to fly to and from the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Dammam, Riyadh, Oman, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon, operating up to and including April 30, may reroute of rebook their travel up to and including June 10, provided their ticket was issued prior to February 28.
Additionally, unused ticket refunds will be made without any charges or fees. Partially used tickets will be processed as ‘involuntary’ to receive refunds for the unused portion of the journey. Interline flights where TK is the marketing carrier are included.
The refund request must be completed on or before June 10.
For more information, see Travelinfo.
