After being absent from the South African airspace for almost two years, Australian carrier Qantas will resume commercial flights to and from South Africa in January 2022.
Qantas’ return is marked by an acceleration in their timeline; with them resuming normal operations between South Africa and Australia in January instead of April, as originally planned. In a statement, Qantas Group chief executive Alan Joyce expressed his ambitions for the airline: ‘We hope that as vaccination rates in other states and territories increase, we’ll be able to restart more international flights out of their capital cities. In the meantime, Sydney is our gateway to the rest of the world.’
The Federal and New South Wales government announced that starting from the 1st of November, fully vaccinated travellers can forego the 14-day quarantine period, but only if the vaccine is recognised under Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). The TGA recognises Pfizer’s Comirnaty vaccine and Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen vaccine; both of which are used in South Africa.
Picture: Wikimedia Commons
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