The civil unrest in South Africa, predominantly in KwaZulu-Natal, has seen the closure of major roads for safety reasons. However, this meant that aid was difficult to find its way to the province.
However, South African airline, FlySafair is coming to the rescue as TimesLive reports.
More flights to and from Durban have been scheduled, with the option of additional free baggage that can be added for those who wish to supply aid to the province. The airline is offering passengers a free 20kg checked baggage allowance.
FlySafair has also committed to aiding various organisations in transporting urgent supplies including food and medicine.
Thus far, 38 flights have been added to and from Durban, going to Cape Town, East London, Johannesburg and Gqeberha, GoodThingsGuy notes.
According to Kirby Gordan, the Chief Marketing Officer as per Travel Reporter:
“Demand for air travel overall is still deeply depressed, but there is clearly a need for additional capacity for both cargo and passenger seats into and out of KZN this week.
“We have some limited capacity in the belly of the aircraft to carry cargo into the province. Our staff have all contributed to helping people in the area and we’re assisting various other charitable groups in moving required goods and services, including essential things like food, medical provisions and yeast to secure bread supplies.
“There’s also a lot of demand for seats for people looking to leave the area, particularly to head to Cape Town. Bookings on this route have been very last minute, and via our contact centre we’ve learned that a lot of people are flying elderly relatives and other vulnerable people out of the province until things calm down a bit,” Gordan notes.
According to the CEO of FlySafair, Elmar Conradie, the first flights sold out in less than an hour.
“The people in Durban don’t have food, they’re looking for places to buy food! At first, it was just a question of how do we get food to our own staff… then more and more calls from companies about helping…” Conradie expressed.
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