The Lufthansa group this week operated six repatriation flights to Windhoek to accommodate more than 1 500 stranded tourists from Germany and Europe who wanted to return home.
The group’s general manager for southern Africa, Andre Schulz, announced this yesterday.
“This week Lufthansa is operating 6 repatriation flights to Windhoek in order to fly more than 1 500 stranded German/European tourists back home to their families and friends,” Schulz said.
The Lufthansa group, in a statement issued on Thursday, said it would extend flight schedules until 3 May to accommodate stranded tourists in other parts of the world.
“Due to the continuing travel restrictions, Lufthansa today decided to extend its returnee flight schedule, which was originally scheduled to run until 19 April, until 3 May. This also means that all remaining flights of the original flight schedule between 25 April and 3 May will be cancelled,” the group said.
It added that flights which were planned to operate until 24 April were cancelled at an earlier date and from Thursday, 2 April, the route cancellations would be implemented and any passengers affected would be informed of the changes.
Lufthansa said it would continue to offer an “urgently needed basic service”.
The airline still offers around 50 daily connections from its hubs in Frankfurt and Munich to the most important cities in Germany and Europe. In addition, airlines in the Lufthansa Group (Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, SWISS, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings and Edelweiss) have been operating more than 300 special flights since March 13.
“Passengers whose flights have been cancelled or who were unable to take their flight can keep their booking and do not have to commit to a new flight date for the time being. The ticket and ticket value remain unchanged and can be converted into a voucher for new booking with a departure date up to and including 30 April 2021,” the group said.
The conversion into a voucher is possible online via the airlines’ websites. Lufthansa said customers who choose a new travel date up to and including 31 December 2020 will also receive a 50 Euro discount on every rebooking.
Health minister Kalumbi Shangula on Wednesday said a German citizen regarded as the third confirmed case of the coronavirus in Namibia had recovered and would be returning to Germany.
The man was the only COVID-19 patient in Namibia who was admitted to hospital after testing positive about three weeks ago.