This is the pilot who will fly South Africans home from coronavirus-hit Wuhan
One of SAA's most seasoned pilots is in charge of the flight to Wuhan to bring South Africans back from the coronavirus-hit Chinese province.
Captain Vusi Khumalo is the commander of the Airbus A340-600 Series flight.
“He is a chief pilot at SAA. He has been with the airline since 1994," the airline's spokesperson Tlali Tlali said.
The flight, a military operation but manned by SAA cabin crew, left SA on Tuesday night and is expected to leave China on Friday.
The staff and crew received two days of training before the departure.
“The identity of the employees on the mission cannot be disclosed without their consent, save for the commander of the flight [Khumalo],” Tlali said.
In 2019, President Cyril Ramaphosa boarded an SAA flight manned by Khumalo. Ramaphosa’s office had taken to Twitter to share snaps of Ramaphosa aboard the plane.
More than 130 South Africans were expected to be repatriated from China.
The South African embassy in China on Wednesday issued communication via the social networking site WeChat to South Africans who were expected to be repatriated back to the country.
Image: Supplied
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