Pretoria- South African Airways (SAA) flights are expected to resume as normal today, the airline said on Wednesday afternoon.
Hundreds of British citizens prepared to finally go home yesterday, but were met with renewed disappointment when their airline, due to take off at 10am, was grounded due to a fresh volcanic explosion.
"SAA flights between South Africa, London, Frankfurt and Munich are scheduled to operate as normal today with an additional flight to London," SAA said on Wednesday.
SAA said flight SA236 will operate as an additional flight (leaving at 6pm local time) from Johannesburg to London. However it said that SA237 that had been scheduled to depart today has been rescheduled to fly tomorrow as SA9237.
Flight SA234 from Johannesburg to London will depart as scheduled while SA220 from Cape Town to London will also depart as scheduled. The SA260 Johannesburg to Frankfurt flight will depart an hour later at 8.25 pm local time while the SA264 Johannesburg to Munich will depart as scheduled.
From the United Kingdom, flight SA235 London to Johannesburg will depart as scheduled while the SA237 London to Johannesburg has been rescheduled to fly tomorrow at 8am UK time will arrive in South Africa at 8.10 pm. The SA221 London to Cape Town will depart as normal.
In Europe, flights SA261 Frankfurt to Johannesburg and SA265 Munich to Johannesburg are scheduled to depart as normal.
"While SAA is confident flights will operate as normal, it is important to note that conditions in Europe are being monitored regularly in conjunction with European Air Traffic and changes can be made at short notice," said SAA.
The airline advised passengers who have been affected by flight cancellations to contact its call centres to rebook their tickets on South Africa: +27 11 978 1111 or 0861 606 606 in South Africa or +44 (0) 20 8576 5505 (outside of the UK) and 0871 722 1111 (within UK) (open hours 09h00am to 18h00pm). In Germany passengers can contact SAA on +49(0)6929980320 (open hours 08h00am to 18h00pm).
The flights shutdown was due to the cloud of volcano ash wreaking havoc on European airspace.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has estimated that the Icelandic volcano has cost airlines more than $1.7 billion in lost revenue through to Tuesday - six days after the initial eruption. It is estimated that from 17-19 April, lost revenues reached $400 million per day.
