Declining demands for its services due to the coronavirus pandemic has forced South African Airways to scale down its operations, the airline said on Wednesday.
The national carrier said it had cancelling 162 flights between 17 March and 31 March in order to stop incurring costs at a time when demands for its services had virtually dropped to unsustainable levels.
“Notwithstanding the decline in demand, SAA continues to aggressively review its schedule to match capacity with demand to the extent possible.
“Where feasible, we will consider options that include cancelling and merging flights,” the state-owned airline said.
According to the national carrier, “of the cancelled a total of 162 flights, 38 are international flights and 124 are regional destinations on the African continent flights.”
In spite of the setbacks, the airline said it would continue to operate flights for passengers whose travel was essential and “cannot be avoided.”
SAA is also giving one free ticket change to customers who will have to change their travel plans due to the travel ban that President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Sunday.
NM/jn/APA