Germany’s new travel regulations for South Africans

Dr André Schulz, Lufthansa general manager Southern and East Africa says the new year comes with some good news for South Africans and Namibians wanting to travel to Germany as the two countries have now been removed from Germany’s list of Areas of Variant of Concern.

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South Africa and Namibia have now been reclassified by the German Robert Koch Institute as High Risk Areas and with that, there are a couple of new regulations that apply:

1. All passengers must be in possession of required valid travel documents.
2. All passengers (aged 6 and above) must carry one of the following medical certificates at the time of departure:
   • Proof of vaccination (Analogue or digital proof of a vaccination series completed more than 14 days ago of a vaccine released by the German Paul Ehrlich Institute)
   • Proof of recovery (Digital or analogue PCR / LAMP / TMA test proof, which is at least 28 days and at most 6 months old.
   • A negative test result (PCR, antigen, RT-LAMP or TMA). The test must not have been carried out more than 48 hours before the scheduled departure time. If the test is an antigen test, it must have been carried out within 48 hours before arrival in Germany.
3. An online registration is also required on this website: https://www.einreiseanmeldung.de/#/
4. All passengers must observe the local German quarantine regulations, with information on this to be found on the website of the German Federal Ministry of Health.
5. Passengers with an international connecting flight must take note and comply with the entry regulations of the relevant destination country.
6. Surgical masks or face masks with the standard FFP2, FFP3, KN95 and N95, each without a valve and not made of fabric, are mandatory on all Lufthansa flights.

Dr Schulz says that even throughout the difficult time after the detection of the Omicron variant, Lufthansa was able to maintain their important lifeline flights to and from South Africa and Namibia, without having to cancel any of their frequencies serving the region.

Lufthansa currently has the following daily flights available:

• Frankfurt – Johannesburg
• Johannesburg – Frankfurt
• Zurich – Johannesburg
• Johannesburg – Zurich

They will maintain their flight schedule to Namibia, but with a slight adjustment. From 23 January to 28 February, Lufthansa will reduce their capacity to Windhoek due to operational requirements, offering four weekly flights. During this period, their Frankfurt Windhoek flight 4Y132 will not operate on Sundays and the Windhoek – Frankfurt flight 4Y133 will not operate on Mondays.

They will thereafter resume their five weekly frequencies prior to increasing their Namibia services to a daily flight schedule for their Summer 2022 flight plan.

Dr Schulz says that flexibility is and has always been key in the travel industry and with that in mind, the Lufthansa group has decided to extend its rebooking deadline once again. This is for existing bookings through to 15 March 2022.