Air Tanzania suspends scheduled flights to South Africa
Thursday September 05 2019
Air Tanzania has temporarily cancelled flights to South Africa in the wake of escalating violence targeting foreigners and their businesses. PHOTO | THE CITIZEN
National carrier Air Tanzania has announced a temporary suspension of its scheduled flights to South Africa over xenophobic attacks.
Works Transport and Communication Minister, Isack Kamwelwe, on Thursday said all flights scheduled for South Africa Friday will be cancelled until South African authorities commit to protect the passengers and properties of foreigners in the country.
“We have temporarily suspended flights until when calm is restored because we wouldn’t want to fly passengers to a destination with chaos,” said Mr Kamwelwe.
The suspension makes ATCL the first airline to cancel flights to South Africa in the wake of escalating violence targeting foreigners and their businesses.
A South African court on Wednesday set aside an earlier decision to impound an Air Tanzania seized in Johannesburg on August 24 over a compensation claim.
In the meantime the Airbus 220-300 will continue plying domestic routes such as Mwanza, Songwe and Dodoma as per the timetable.
He further reiterated that the suspension has nothing to do with the recent seizure of the aircraft something that he says is now in the past.