The German federal government has declared eight African states to be so-called virus variant areas. This means that a de facto ban on transport, from which only German citizens and people with a residence permit or place of residence in Germany are exempt.

This measure was announced for South Africa at the end of last week. Now come Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Mozambique, Eswatini, Malawi and Lesotho. For some of the states mentioned, the ban is more of a symbolic meaning because there are no non-stop flight connections anyway. However, commercial business aviation is very much affected.

Transfer passengers are not covered by the ban, as the de facto ban on transport only applies to non-stop flights. However, this is interpreted very differently by the airlines, because some transport transfer passengers without hesitation, others do not take them with them either, unless they are German citizens or fall under other exceptions.

South Africa has expressed considerable criticism of the measures adopted at the international level. You feel discriminated because, in contrast to other countries, you are sequencing to a large extent and the discovery of the mutation has been dealt with transparently. In contrast to the agreement that was reached at the G20 summit, reports are now being punished internationally, which has caused the South African economy to suffer particularly badly.