South Africa: Airlink expands its domestic flight network for business and essential travel! [update]

update (22 July 2020):  Effective 27 July 2020, Airlinks' early morning flights between Johannesburg and Cape Town as well as between Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth will be departing a little later to enhance customer convenience.
Johannesburg 07:10 > 09:20 Cape Town (Mondays to Sundays)Cape Town  07:20 > 09:25 Johannesburg (Mondays to Sundays)Johannesburg 10:15 > 12:35 Cape Town (Saturdays)Johannesburg 07:10 > 08:55 Port Elizabeth (Mondays to Fridays)Port Elizabeth 09:35 > 11:15 Johannesburg (Mondays to Fridays)

Following the announcement by South Africa's Minister of Transport, Fikile Mbalula, that seven more airports in South Africa resume operations from 01 July 2020, South African regional carrier Airlink is set to introduce flights between OR Tambo Internaitonal Airport (JNB) in Johannesburg and Bram Fischer International Airport (BFN) in Bloemfontein, Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport (MQP) in Nelspruit, Upington Airport (UTN) in Upington and Pietermaritzburg Airport (PZB) in Pietermaritzburg as well as Cape Town International Airport (CPT) in Cape Town to Bloemfontein and Cape Town to Port Elizabeth International Airport (PLZ) in Port Elizabeth. All services will commence on 06 July 2020. In the next few weeks the airline is expecting additional airports to be approved and added to their operations, these include Kimberley, Mthatha, Polokwane, Richards Bay as well as Cape Town to George.
Domestic passenger air travel in South Africa is currently not permitted for recreational, leisure or tourism purposes. All international passenger flights are prohibited except for those flights authorised by the Minister of Transport for the repatriation of South African Nationals from foreign countries and evacuation of foreign nationals from South Africa.

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South Africa: South African National Parks is getting ready to reopen accommodation facilities in its National Parks!

In the wake of an announcement by South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa that accredited and licensed accommodation providers can resume operations in alert level three of the country's risk-adjusted strategy to manage the spread of COVID-19, South African National Parks (SANParks) is preparing for a recall of its hospitality staff and for a phased-in approach in the reopening of its overnight facilities. According to SANParks CEO, Fundisile Mketeni, SANParks will approach the opening of its accommodation facilities responsibly to ensure that the gains made by South Africa in curbing the spread of the coronavirus pandemic are not compromised.

SANParks' CEO further said that hospitality staff will get a re-training on new operating protocols in line with industry standards to ensure compliance with regard to the regulations in South Africa. SANParks will announce the dates for the reopening of accommodation bookings in the next few days. We'll keep you posted!

South Africa moves to an "advanced" alert level three lockdown: accommodation establishments allowed to reopen!

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced in a national address on 17 June 2020 that the country will move to an "advanced" alert level three lockdown, with a number of business sectors reopened to the public. Following discussions with industry representatives and after advice from scientists and consultation with the Cabinet, South Africa's Government has decided to ease restrictions on certain other economic activities.

These activities include:

• Restaurants for "sit-down" meals
• Accredited and licensed accommodation, with the exception of home sharing accommodation like AirBnB.
• Conferences and meetings for business purposes and in line with restrictions on public gatherings.
• Cinemas and theatres, to be aligned to limitations on the gathering of people.
• Casinos.
• Personal care services, including hairdressers and beauty services
• Non-contact sports such as golf, tennis, cricket and others. Contact sports will be allowed only for training and modified activities with restricted use of facilities.

According to President Cyril Ramaphosa, in each instance, specific and stringent safety requirements have been agreed to by the various representatives of these industries. These will need to be put in place before a business can reopen, and protocols will need to be strictly adhered to for businesses to remain open.
Further details on opening dates and the guidelines that must be followed will be made public in due course. We'll keep you posted!

South Africa remains at lockdown level 3, but additional sectors of our economy will now be allowed to reopen – as long as strict measures are in place to ensure physical distancing & personal hygiene. #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/lyNAqCUOdv

— Presidency | South Africa 🇿🇦 (@PresidencyZA) June 17, 2020