South Africa: ‘It’s Heartbreaking – – People Are Devastated’ – OR Tambo Airline Passengers Hard Hit By Travel Ban

‘Nobody told them anything,’ said a security guard. ‘These people didn’t know anything. They just came here to find their flights were cancelled.’

It is Friday afternoon at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport and screens in the international boarding area announce that flights to Heathrow are cancelled. This follows the announcement of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

The UK has suspended all flights to and from South Africa and there are no staff at the British Airways boarding gates.

Not very far away, women dressed in red Virgin Atlantic uniforms are stationed behind their computers. Their male colleague, dressed in black, holds up a sheaf of papers with the Virgin Atlantic logo – alerting passengers to the travel ban. He talks to a woman; she seems perplexed. Her travelling partner stands less than 2m away, both are glued to their phones a few moments later.

At the viewing deck, a man holds a bunch of proteas. He is waiting for his wife to land.

“Considering the state of the world at the moment, it’s better to be safe than sorry,” he says.

“With new variants, we don’t know what the repercussions are. We don’t know if the current vaccines…

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