Air travel in the time of a pandemic

SOUTHERN CAPE NEWS - A former South African likens Charles de Gaulle Airport to a ghost town, saying international travel in the time of the Covid-19 pandemic is incredibly eerie.

Madie Ditmars, who has been a citizen of the Netherlands for a number of years, makes regular trips to South Africa to visit family and friends, but was completely taken aback by what she encountered en route to her country of birth on Monday this week.

While waiting for her connecting flight to Johannesburg at Charles de Gaulle Airport, Ditmars only saw a few international passengers standing about and when she boarded, was one of just a handful of people braving the flight with most seats unoccupied.

If she did not feel so out of sorts by the surreal experience, she would have been guaranteed a good sleep as she could stretch out almost anywhere on the plane.

Eerily quiet...

South Africa is labelled as a Covid-19 red zone and Britain and most countries in the EU discourage their citizens from travelling here. Ditmars was granted special permission as her father has been taken ill and the family fear the worst.

The cleaning bill must have come down drastically.

Ditmars says its tricky to juggle your Covid-19 test and accompanying travel clearance with your flight schedule within the 24-hour period that the test stays valid.

"You would think it's enjoyable to fly without the usual crowds, but it's not. Give me the hustle and bustle of thousands of people any day instead of this nightmarish nothingness."

There is no problem maintaining social distance on such an empty plane.