South African Airways (SAA) said on Wednesday that it had cancelled some scheduled flights to Blantyre in Malawi due to the closure of the main runway at Chileka international airport.
Aircraft operated by SAA cannot use the secondary runway, which will remain operational for the duration of the closure between April 24 and July 23.
Contingency plans have been put in place to service the route with smaller aircraft, operated by SA Express, with the exception of flights on Wednesday and Saturday this week.
"We have implemented contingency plans by using SA Express's Q400 turboprop aircraft to continue with SAA's scheduled operations, with the exception of April 24 and 27, when no scheduled operation will be available to or from Blantyre.
"We apologise to our valued passengers and customers for the inconvenience caused by these cancellations," said SAA spokesperson Tlali Tlali.
SAA operates a three-times-a-week service between Johannesburg and Blantyre on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.
"The type of aircraft deployed during the rehabilitation of the runway will be a single- cabin aircraft. In the light of this change, SAA has decided to compensate all passengers who purchased tickets to travel in the premium cabin. The decision was based on the nature of the offering in the single cabin aircraft and in accordance with our compensation policy," said Tlali.
SAA opted to temporarily cancel flights to the airport in January after an inspection revealed safety concerns.
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