The discovery of the new Omicron variant by South African scientists led to mass travel bans posed against several southern African countries, including South Africa. Qatar Airways swiftly followed suit and barred inbound passengers from selected southern African countries, while still flying passengers into southern Africa.
It came as a relief when Qatar Airways announced on Friday, December 10 that it would resume both inbound and outbound services to Cape Town and Johannesburg, with daily double flights. The resumption of normal operations was set to start on December 12, according to News24.
However, quickly after the announcement of lifting the ban, the airline began notifying passengers that their flights had been cancelled. The short notice left travellers enraged as no answers were given on how to receive a refund or an alternative flight.
Qatar Airways told Business Insider that the cancellations were ‘Due to operational reasons, Qatar Airways has unfortunately had to postpone the restart of outbound passenger services from South Africa for a short period of time. We apologise to our customers and recommend they contact their travel agent.’
At present, Qatar Airways has not released an official statement regarding the reintroduction of the ban. It appears that the official statement regarding the lifting of the travel ban has also been removed from their website.
Picture: Jan Rosolino/Unsplash
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