The
first domestic commercial flight from O. R. Tambo International Airport
under Alert Level 3 took off yesterday morning, bound for Cape Town.
After
10 weeks of biding their time, a total of 57 business travellers began
checking in at the airport from 4am for the flight on a CemAir Dash
8-Q400
that departed at 6.30am. The load factor on this flight was 73%.
A
few hours later at 11:50am the airport received the first arrival of a
domestic commercial flight under Alert Level 3 with a CemAir flight
bringing some
66 passengers to Gauteng, a load factor of 83%. A second CemAir flight
from O. R. Tambo International Airport to Cape Town departed at 3pm and
another flight was scheduled to arrive at 8.15pm.
Bongiwe
Pityi-Vokwana, GM of O. R. Tambo International Airport, says the
extensive health and safety measures implemented at the airport worked
as intended.
“The
first domestic commercial flight under Level 3 is a significant step
forward in demonstrating to the public this airport’s readiness and
ability to
apply the regulations under operational conditions. We encourage
passengers to arrive at the airport two (2) hours prior to departure to
allow the necessary health and safety measures such screening to be
carried out diligently.
“Together
with the airlines we want to demonstrate that people can use this
airport safely. As more airlines resume operations in the coming days,
we will
closely monitor adherence to the regulations so that passengers can
appreciate just how serious we are about ensuring their safety,” she
says.
Pityi-Vokwana
says airport management will seek feedback from frontline employees as
well as passengers to identify areas where safety and the passenger
experience can be further enhanced.
One such area already identified is that some passengers have assumed that their normal routes into the airport will be open.
Terminal
access for arrivals and departures is now only through the parkade and
no longer from the roadway. Passengers must look for the signs for
Parkade
2 South.
Parkade
2 South, Level 2 is for pick-up and drop-off. The grace period has been
increased from 15 minutes to 20 minutes. Parking bays are open in
Parkade
2 South Level 3 and Level 4.
“For
now, though, we are just pleased to again be up and running. We
anticipate that demand will initially be modest but that it will grow
steadily as passengers
become comfortable with the regulations and convinced that they will be
safe,” she says.
CemAir
CEO Miles van der Molen said: “CemAir has been very active in
repatriation flights during the travel restrictions, but it is
particularly pleasing
for us to again be able to offer scheduled domestic flights. We are now
looking forward to our first flights between Durban and O. R. Tambo
International from Monday.”
Van
der Molen said the airline believes that passengers will gradually
become accustomed to the new regulations such as wearing of masks during
a flight
and not receiving in-cabin service.
“Flying
under these conditions is going to be challenging for the entire
aviation sector, but it’s vital that we get passengers back in the air,”
said Van
der Molen.
