A flight will leave tonight for Wuhan, China as South Africa begins its repatriation of citizens affected by the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak.
The flight, labelled as SA2288, will bring home 122 South Africans from the Chinese city. It’s scheduled to depart OR Tambo International Airport at 9am tonight.
No ad to show here.
According to flight departure listings by FlightRadar24, the plane used will be a South African Airways Airbus A340-600 with tail number ZS-SND.
President @CyrilRamaphosa and Minister #ZweliMkhize on a walkabout at OR Tambo International Airport ahead of military personnel and @health medical personnel leaving to Wuhan, China pic.twitter.com/IlghGcyuav
— Dr Zweli Mkhize (@DrZweliMkhize) March 10, 2020
That specific aircraft performed its last commercial flight back in February, according to PlaneFinder, when it returned home from a flight to Frankfurt. A newer Airbus A350-900 now performs this flight.
ZS-SND was one of the nine planes listed as for sale by SAA late last year.
The plane won’t fly directly to Wuhan, instead landing in the Philippines at Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Wednesday around 4pm. It’ll then fly to the Chinese city returning to South Africa on Thursday.
You can track the repatriation flight in the air here.
Memeburn’s rolling COVID-19 coronavirus coverage
For more details on the COVID-19 outbreak, including breaking news, reliable sources to follow, online information and courses, and more, bookmark our coronavirus hub here.
- Follow our Twitter list of scientists, government personnel and reporters covering the outbreak.
- Educate yourself about the virus through these online courses and resources from WHO, the US CDC, and more.
- Keep up to speed with the number of cases with this helpful dashboard.
- Prefer to listen to the news? We’ve rounded up a few podcasts that’ll keep you informed about the coronavirus outbreak.
Feature image: an SAA Airbus A340-600 in Johannesburg in 2010, by Andy Mitchell via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0, resized)
