Airlines operating flights between South Africa and key Middle East hubs have announced increases to their limited flight schedules and updated their travel policies.
Due to the reopening of regional airspace, Qatar and Emirates plan to gradually increase flights to and from Doha and Dubai.
Qatar Airways
Qatar Airways’ latest update, valid until April 15, includes additional frequencies to more than 50 destinations across Qatar Airways’ global network, including South Africa.
Qatar plans to operate the following weekly departures from South Africa:
- April 1-7: seven weekly departures from Johannesburg, four weekly departures from Cape Town and three weekly departures from Durban.
- April 8-15: 11 weekly departures from Johannesburg, four weekly departures from Cape Town and four weekly departures from Durban.
The airline has also extended its rebooking policy to include travel up to and including June 15, for complimentary travel date changes up to and including October 31, subject to availability and fare seasonality.
For more information, see Travelinfo.
Emirates
Emirates will progressively restore services across its network, with a planned schedule of up to 150 daily roundtrip passenger flights until April 30.
Emirates’ planned South Africa operations during this period include three daily flights to Johannesburg, a daily service to Cape Town and three weekly flights to Durban.
“As the situation continues to stabilise, we remain committed to steadily strengthening our operation and adding further frequencies to South Africa and across the wider network where possible,” Emirates said in a travel trade notice.
To view the latest updates to Emirates’ Disruption Handling Policy, please see the Emirates Partners Portal.
For more information, see Travelinfo.
