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 that they will operate a limited number of scheduled flights to assist stranded passengers.
Emirates, Qatar Airways, Etihad and SAA have issued updated advisories outlining their limited flight schedules. All the Middle Eastern airlines emphasise that travellers should not travel to the airport unless they have been contacted directly by their airline or secured a booking on one of these new flights.
Emirates
In an update published on March 7, Emirates announced that it will introduce an additional flight between Johannesburg and Dubai, effective March 9.
The flight schedule for Emirates’ Johannesburg operations will include the following additional flight:
- EK768 will depart Johannesburg at 10h25 and arrive in Dubai at 20h25. EK767 will depart Dubai at 23h25 and arrive in Johannesburg at 05h35, the following day.
This return flight will operate alongside EK766 and EK675, between Johannesburg and Dubai, and EK771 and EK770, between Cape Town and Dubai.
The Disruption Handling Policy allows free rebooking and rerouting options for passengers travelling up to March 31, who may rebook their travel any time up to April 30 to destinations within the same region and within the same cabin.
The airline also updated its Rebooking Policy, enabling its passengers to rebook on another airline to travel to their original destination or another destination within the same country or region, for travel up to and including March 31. Rebooking is only permitted on selected airlines, cabins and booking classes. Only the affected Emirates segments may be rebooked onto another airline.
For more details, please see Travelinfo.
Qatar Airways
In a March 8 notice, Qatar Airways confirmed that, while its flight operations remained suspended due to the closure of Qatari airspace, it would start operating a limited number of relief flights to support stranded passengers.
Flights departing from Doha:
March 9: Seoul, Moscow, London Heathrow, Delhi, Madrid, Islamabad, Beijing, Perth, Nairobi and Istanbul.
March 10: Cairo, London Heathrow, Jeddah, Manila, Kochi, Muscat, Istanbul, Mumbai, Delhi, Nairobi, Islamabad, Madrid, Frankfurt, Colombo and Milan.
Flights arriving in Doha:
March 10: Seoul, Moscow, London Heathrow, Delhi, Madrid, Islamabad, Beijing, Perth, Nairobi and Istanbul.
March 11: Cairo, London Heathrow, Jeddah, Manila, Kochi, Muscat, Istanbul, Mumbai, Delhi, Nairobi, Islamabad, Madrid, Frankfurt, Colombo and Milan.
Priority on these flights was given to stranded passengers with families, elderly passengers, and those with urgent medical and compassionate travel needs. Each flight was pre-allocated by Qatar Airways directly to such affected passengers.
Tickets issued for travel between February 28 and March 10 may be changed by up to 14 days from the original travel date. Passengers also have the option to refund or change their flights within the permitted window.
For more details, see Travelinfo.
Etihad Airways
Etihad Airways announced its resumption of a limited commercial flight schedule between Abu Dhabi and a number of key destinations on March 6, which will continue until March 19.
The airline plans to operate flights between the following destinations and Abu Dhabi:
Ahmedabad, Addis Ababa, Amsterdam, Athens, Atlanta, Bangkok, Barcelona, Beijing, Bengaluru, Boston, Brussels, Cairo, Casablanca, Chiang Mai, Chicago, Colombo, Copenhagen, Delhi, Denpasar, Dublin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hanoi, Hong Kong, Hyderabad, Islamabad, Istanbul, Jakarta, Jeddah, Karachi, Kochi, Kolkata, Kozhikode, Krabi, Kuala Lumpur, Lahore, London Heathrow, Madrid, Malé, Manchester, Manila, Medina, Melbourne, Milan Malpensa, Moscow (Sheremetyevo), Mumbai, Munich, Muscat, Nairobi, New York JFK, Paris, Phnom Penh, Phuket, Prague, Riyadh, Rome, Seoul Incheon, Seychelles, Singapore, St Petersburg, Sydney, Taipei, Tel Aviv, Thiruvananthapuram, Tokyo, Toronto, Vienna, Warsaw, Washington and Zurich.
Guests with previous bookings will be accommodated on these flights first. Thereafter, tickets will be made available for sale.
Etihad Airways has issued a commercial waiver for guests holding EY tickets issued on or before February 28, with original travel dates up to March 10. The waiver applies across the airline’s entire network.
For cancelled flights, the standard schedule change policy applies with rebooking permitted on or before March 31.
For non-cancelled flights, passengers may rebook free of charge on the lowest available booking class in the same cabin, with travel permitted up to March 10, subject to original routing. Change fees, no-show fees and service charges are waived, provided tickets are reissued on or before March 10. Refunds for non-cancelled flights remain subject to fare rules.
For more information, please see Travelinfo.
SAA
On March 8, SAA confirmed that certain SAA codeshare Emirates-operated commercial flights between South Africa and Dubai would resume.
Customers booked on SAA codeshare Emirates-operated flights between February 28 and March 31 can be rebooked within the same cabin class, on the next available SAA codeshare Emirates-operated commercial flights 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.
The following SAA codeshare flights resume operations:
- CPT–DXB: SA156 will depart Cape Town at 18h30 and arrive in Dubai at 05h55, the following day. SA157 will depart Dubai at 09h10 and arrive in Cape Town at 16h45.
- JNB–DXB: SA153 will depart Johannesburg at 10h25 and arrive in Dubai at 20h25. SA152 will depart Dubai at 23h25 and arrive in Johannesburg at 05h35, the following day.
- JNB–DXB: SA162 will depart Johannesburg at 22h20 and arrive in Dubai at 08h15. SA163 will depart Dubai at 14h25 and arrive in Johannesburg at 20h35.
The following SAA codeshare flights operated by Emirates remain suspended:
- CPT–DXB: SA7154, SA7155
- JNB–DXB: SA7160, SA7158, SA7159, SA7161
- DUR–DXB: SA7164, SA7165
For more information, please see Travelinfo.
