The opening of leisure travel under Level 2 is exciting news for O.R. Tambo International Airport which is ready and standing by to welcome domestic passengers.
Says Bongiwe Pityi-Vokwana, General Manager of the airport: “The entire airport community is preparing to welcome more passengers as people start to make bookings for leisure travel.
“The opening up of domestic air travel will have a positive impact on not only the airport but also the entire aviation sector. As with business air travel, we anticipate a gradual increase in demand at first. However, with Spring approaching we expect an increase in passenger traffic,” she says.
The airport is ready to facilitate passengers under Level 2 with extensive health and safety measures in place and rigorous monitoring of compliance with regulations.
“Passengers who have not been inside an airport for months will find a range of measures in place that absolutely have to be followed to the letter. We hope that by now the public has grown accustomed to mask-wearing, sanitisation and hand-washing and physical distancing.
“In the airport environment, these measures increase the time needed to make your way through the airport system, so it is essential to arrive at least two hours before scheduled departure,” says Pityi-Vokwana.
“But once inside the airport you will still be able to buy refreshments and in due course some food outlets may also reopen. We expect other retailers may also begin to reopen their stores now that demand is returning. The measures applied by these stores will be the same as those used in malls and supermarkets.”
Pityi-Vokwana says that the period of facilitating only business travel enabled the airport to refine processes and safety precautions.
“Passengers can have confidence that the air travel environment is safe from entering the terminal to picking up bags at the destination.”
