The Polish government decided to extend the existing prohibition of landing in Poland by passenger planes from seven South African countries until January 24 due to covid restrictions. The previous restrictions ceased to apply on January 10.

Being in force from January 11, the new government regulation extends the flight ban until January 24 this year. The extension of the restrictions is due to the state of the pandemic in Poland and the risk of spreading SARS CoV-2 virus infections, in particular the Omicron variant from the countries of the South African region: Eswatini, Lesotho, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

The regulation does not apply to aircraft performing international flights at the request of the Prime Minister, with the consent of the President of the Civil Aviation Authority, for the needs of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland and chartered before its date of entry into force.

The ban will also not apply to aircrafts taking off from airports in the territories of countries that have notified the Republic of Poland about ensuring that only passengers with a negative SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic test result will be accepted onboard the aircraft.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński