Pretoria - South African Airways has cancelled flights between Johannesburg and Nairobi following a fire at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), the national carrier said on Wednesday.
“SAA would like to advise its customers and passengers that it has cancelled its flights between Johannesburg and Nairobi for today,” it said.
A fire broke out at JKIA in the early hours of this morning, resulting in Kenyan authorities halting all flight operations to and from that airport.
SAA has cancelled both its scheduled flights on that route for the day. This means flight SA184 from Johannesburg to Nairobi and flight SA185 from Nairobi to Johannesburg have been cancelled for today.
“While all efforts to resume operations are being made by Kenyan authorities, it is still early for any indication as to when the operations will resume,” said the airline.
The airline has put a recovery plan in place intended to minimise the impact of the inconvenience to customers. The plan will be activated as soon as a signal is received indicating that the airport has resumed its operations.
SAA has also advised passengers wishing to cancel or reschedule their flights to take note of some conditions.
All customers with SAA tickets, who are affected by the Nairobi flight cancellations, will be offered the following assistance either via SAA Call Centres, City Ticket Offices, Airport Ticket Offices or through their Travel Agent. These are:
- rebooking on the next available flight (same cabin / same booking class) subject to space;
- all date and flight change fees will be waivered;
- this allowance will apply to South African Airways tickets only and not on any other airline tickets;
- the offer must be taken up and tickets re-issued through an SAA office by Monday (12 August 2013) and
- if you are moving to a later date, all such travel must commence on/before 21 August 2013.
Passengers can contact SAA on (011) 978-1111 or 0861 606 606 Monday to Sundays from 6am to 10pm. Passengers can also contact SAA City Office in Nairobi on (254) 20 224-7342 or (254) 20 224-5520 Monday to Friday from 8am to 4:30pm.
For North America passengers can call SAA in Fort Lauderdale on (1) 800 722 9675 from Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 8pm and Saturday to Sunday at 8am to 2pm.
The number for the United Kingdom for SAA is 0844 375 9680 with the call centre operating from 9am to 5pm Monday to Sunday.
The national carrier said it will continue to monitor developments regarding the airport closure.
Customers can also find updates on SAA’s website www.flysaa.com or on its social media accounts; Facebook (facebook.com/FlySAA) and the twitter handle (@flysaa). - SANews.gov.za
