Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

TRAVEL NEWS

‘Our lives are at a standstill’: South Africans urge Germany to lift travel ban

An activist group comprised of workers, students and cross-border couples are demanding an urgent rethink of Germany's ban on travel from South Africa, which they argue is discriminatory and unjust.

Published: 22 July 2021 18:27 CEST
'Our lives are at a standstill': South Africans urge Germany to lift travel ban
Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) is greeted in Johannesburg by the German Ambassador to South Africa on May 28th. While South Africans are forbidden from travelling to Germany, Germans can visit South Africa and return. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Christoph Soeder

The six-month blockage on South Africans travelling to Germany has been one of the longest and most severe of any of Germany’s Covid-related travel bans. 

Since January 30th 2021, South African residents have been denied entry to Germany for anything other than ‘essential travel’ – a definition that includes competitive sports events and medical treatment, but not family reunification, work or study.

READ ALSO: Brazilian workers and students demand end to German travel ban

South Africa’s German Embassy is also refusing to issue Schengen Visas for the duration of the ban, meaning that even those who have a valid reason to be in the country – such as visiting loved ones, starting a new job, or finishing a University degree – have been unable to even set foot on European soil. 

Delta now dominant in South Africa

At present, the African nation is one of 11 ‘virus variant areas’ on the Robert Koch Institute’s list of Covid risk areas. According to the information on the German Foreign Ministry’s website, this is due to “new, more contagious variants” of Covid-19 that are present in the country, such as the Beta variant, which was first discovered in South Africa. 

However, activists have pointed out, much like in Germany, the Delta variant is by far the most dominant strain of Covid in South Africa, while the Beta variant now makes up a tiny and rapidly declining share of the country’s infections.

READ ALSO: IN NUMBERS: Where are Covid cases rising in Germany – and what does it mean?

On Wednesday 21st July, Beta accounted for just 3.7 percent of Covid cases in the country, while the Delta variant accounted for 77 percent. 

On the same day in France, almost one in 10 Covid cases were Beta infections. France, however, is currently listed as a ‘basic risk area’ by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), meaning travel between people can travel between the two countries with minimal disruptions. 


The Beta variant, which was first discovered in South Africa, now accounts for nine percent of Covid cases in France, and only 3.7 percent of cases in South Africa. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/AP Pool | Daniel Cole

“The Robert Koch Institute published on July 5th that Portugal, Russia, the UK and India have been downgraded from ‘virus variant’ countries to ‘high incidence’, thereby easing the travel restrictions,” activist Kelly Dido told The Local. “Nothing changed for South Africa – although we are Delta dominant too.”

READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: Germany’s new travel rules for the UK, Portugal and India

“There is no real reason for SA to be singled out (based on the Beta variant) because, like most countries in the world, we are now seeing the dominance of the Delta Variant,” Dr. Richard Lessells from South Africa’s Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform confirmed.

‘No longer justified’

In their open letter addressed to numerous German officials, the frustrated campaigners urged the German government to be transparent about their criteria for deciding on the categorisation of ‘risk areas’.

“There is no public framework that allows us to understand the basis of these decisions, the criteria, and how each country ranks,” said Dido. “The commission responsible for these decisions should not only publish changes but the respective objectively quantifiable criteria.”

In their independent research, the group – which operates under the names LoveIsNotTourism, EducationIsNotTourism and WorkIsNotTourism – say they have found several “discrepancies” between how countries have been treated by German health officials, including differences in how countries are classified and whether visas are allowed to be issued. 

“This has led us to believe that the travel ban on South Africans is no longer justified,” added Dido.

Though the ban on South Africa has been the “longest and harshest” and led to lost opportunities abroad and long periods of separation from loved ones, the group says their complaints have fallen on deaf ears.

“We are fighting for our fundamental right to see our families and partners, our right to education and employment,” they wrote in their open letter. “Since the beginning of the pandemic, our voices have not been heard enough by all Member States’ governments. Over a year after the pandemic’s beginning, we are still fighting the fight and need your help.”

‘Our lives are at a standstill’ 

With the continued uncertainty of the travel ban, the 100-strong group of South Africans say their lives have been put on hold. 

“It’s been three months since I earned a job offer to work in Germany – a dream come true, but instead, the travel ban keeps me from
pursuing my dreams,” said Dido.

“My visa application is approved, yet I’m not allowed to begin this new chapter of my life. Every day I check the news, patiently waiting to hear when I can board a flight to continue my career. I only wish to grow professionally and contribute economically to the country.”

With the expectation of moving abroad, Dido says she wrapped up her life in South Africa – only to find that she was unable to start her new one in Germany. 

“I’ve given up my job, my apartment, my livelihood for this move,” said Dido. “I now have none left – only a depleting savings account. I go vagabonding about the world, moving from home to home, hesitant to settle down as anything can change at any moment. But nothing has changed. It’s been months now.”

Now, the group is demanding that the German government downgrade South Africa from a virus variant area, implement a more transparent decision-making framework, issue the visas that have been approved by the German Embassy for work, study, and visiting loved ones, and “provide equal treatment” to countries globally. 

“Our lives are at a standstill, a discouraging limbo,” they wrote.

“Sadly, this has put a strain on our lives, giving rise to various severe mental health issues.

“We plead to the RKI and Ministries responsible to re-evaluate the South African status and make the reasonable adjustments to include exceptions for employment, studies, marriages and those in binational relationships. We plead to the German Embassy for support to get our visa applications processed. We plead to our Foreign Minister, Dr. Naledi Pandor, to support and table our concerns.”

The Local has contacted the German Ministry of Health and the Foreign Office for comment, but has not yet received a response. 

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

TRAVEL NEWS

‘Germany lacks a sensible airline policy’: Is budget air travel on the decline?

Budget airlines complain that an upcoming tax hike is one of many accumulating costs that are pushing ticket prices up. The Local takes a look at trends in German aviation and asks, are the days of cheap flights coming to an end?

Published: 25 April 2024 15:16 CEST
'Germany lacks a sensible airline policy': Is budget air travel on the decline?

April is a big month for budget airline anniversaries in the Bundesrepublik: Ryanair first landed at Frankfurt’s Hahn Airport 25 years ago in April 1999, and EasyJet is also celebrating its 20th anniversary in Berlin.

Both airlines have expanded greatly since stepping into the German market. Ryanair, which had served around 5 million passengers in 1999, now has 184 million guests annually and has grown into Europe’s largest flight provider. In the same time, EasyJet ramped up its service in Berlin, bringing more than 84 million passengers to and from the capital city.

All of which is to say that the beginning of the 21st century was a good time to be in the budget airline business, at least up until the beginning of the Covid pandemic.

But more recently the industry has contracted in Germany while it continues to grow elsewhere in Europe. 

According to the latest flight schedule analysis by the German aviation industry association (BDL), direct airlines are expanding their flight schedules in Europe at a level that hasn’t been seen since the Covid pandemic.

In the next six months, Ryanair will offer 17 percent more seats on the continent than in the same period of the pre-pandemic year 2019. In Germany, on the other hand, which is weakening overall, they only have 78 percent of the previous supply – a decline of 22 percent.

For its part, EasyJet had reduced its presence at the Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) from 18 to 11 aircraft for the 2023 winter flight schedule. However, the company points out that they are expanding their capacity at BER this summer.

EasyJet told The Local: “We have increased our capacity at BER with 200,000 seats for summer 2024…[including] five new routes this summer to Antalya, Izmir, Birmingham, Toulouse and Salerno.”

READ ALSO: What intercontinental flights can I get from smaller German airports?

Budget airlines are looking for bluer skies

Both Ryanair and EasyJet suggest that fees and operating costs at German airports have gotten too high.

“Berlin is among the most expensive airports we operate from,” EasyJet told The Local, adding, “Airport costs represent about 20 percent of EasyJet’s operating costs and are the second largest cost after fuel.”

The company suggests that these costs make up a large proportion of passenger ticket prices for short haul trips, and therefore high airport fees are limiting its ability to stimulate demand.

Representatives from Ryanair have made statements along similar lines. “The German aviation market is broken, and the government lacks a sensible airline policy,” Ryanair marketing chief Dara Brady said at a recent anniversary ceremony, according to the German Press Agency (DPA).

In particular, both airlines are not happy about a passenger tax hike which is coming into effect on May 1st. The German aviation tax (Luftverkehrsabgabe) will increase by about 20 percent, and will add a cost of at least €15.53 to one-way European flights, which will be reflected in higher ticket prices for customers.

READ ALSO: Everything that changes in Germany in May 2024

EasyJet told The Local that it is “disappointed with the increase of the passenger tax”, and that the “cost increase will result in higher fares for consumers and damage Germany’s connectivity”.

In addition to passenger taxes, there are also handling costs, take-off and landing fees, as well as fees for security checks on the ground and air traffic control. These costs vary between airports, and directly impact airlines’ plans to expand or curtail operations in a given location.

For example, when Frankfurt Main Airport offered temporary discounts on take-off and landing fees in 2017, Ryanair moved a large part of its Hahn fleet temporarily to the Main.

As operating costs have steadily creeped up in Germany, budget airlines have looked increasingly to other countries for their expansion plans. 

But that doesn’t mean budget airlines can afford to ignore Germany completely. EasyJet maintains that Berlin and Germany are still “a key market for the company”, and last autumn Ryanair suggested that it is aiming to increase its German market share.

Passengers stand near the Ryanair check-in counters. Photo: OSCAR DEL POZO/AFP.

In particular Ryanair aims to expand at Frankfurt’s Hahn, in Weeze on the Lower Rhine, in Memmingen, Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden and Nuremberg.

What should a passenger flight cost?

Despite mounting costs and taxes that airlines complain about, the fact remains that plane tickets are commonly cheaper than equivalent train tickets despite the much higher energy use involved.

That plane tickets can be offered at such low prices is largely explained by the fact that the aviation industry is among the most undertaxed and overly subsidised sectors of the economy.

Airlines aren’t charged VAT or a kerosene tax when they fly between many European destinations today. When the same journey is made by train, rail companies are charged both.

In this sense, Germany’s passenger tax hike on May 1st can be seen as a very small step toward levelling the playing field so that ground transportation options become more competitive.

“In a climate crisis, giving tax exemptions to a super polluting sector is incompatible with the challenges of today,” Jo Dardenne, the aviation director at the clean transport campaign group Transport and Environment, told Euronews following an announcement that France would hike its taxes on flights last year.

Compared to the amount of money pumped into fossil fuel subsidies that airlines rely on, Germany’s passenger tax hike is small change.

According to reporting by Investigate Europe, Germany spends the most to support cheap fossil fuels out of all European member states, with German taxpayers doling out €12.5 billion annually in support for the aviation sector, as of 2020.

READ ALSO: Germany to grant big industry firms subsidies to clean up their act

Still, commercial airline passengers in Germany will certainly not to be happy to see the price of flights rising. Customers can expect to pay between €15.53 and €70.83 more for flights scheduled after May 1st.

With reporting by DPA

SHOW COMMENTS