Qatar Airways (QR) has signed an interline agreement with FlySafair, currently South Africa’s largest domestic airline. This will provide QR with 10 domestic connections in South Africa, including Port Elizabeth, East London and George.
This is good news for tourism into South Africa, as Qatar’s Doha hub is a super-modern centre for global aviation, and the airline has quickly ramped up its flights following the initial onset of COVID. QR currently serves 100 global destinations.
Outbound passengers travelling on FlySafair from an outlying airport will be able to book one ticket straight through via Johannesburg, Cape Town or Durban, and then transit through Doha to their final destination in Qatar Airways’ wide network, with checked-in baggage transported straight through.
Qatar Airways’ vp Africa, Hendrik Du Preez, said: “We are delighted to sign this interline agreement with FlySafair, further expanding our presence and travel booking options in South Africa. Since the onset of the pandemic, Qatar Airways’ network never fell below 30 destinations, making us the airline passengers can rely on.”
“It’s brilliant to be in partnership with Qatar Airways, an airline we deeply respect. We’re also thrilled to see some international passenger movement starting to slowly emerge now that our borders have started to open,” said Kirby Gordon, chief marketing officer of FlySafair.
QR says it is the first global carrier to operate the Honeywell Ultraviolet (UV) Cabin System, advancing its hygiene measures on board. In clinical tests, UV light has been shown to be capable of inactivating various viruses and bacteria when properly applied. And at the airline’s Doha hub, UV-C disinfectant robots, fully autonomous mobile devices emitting concentrated UV-C light, are deployed in high-passenger-flow areas to reduce the spread of pathogens.
