SA low-cost airline Mango suspends Zanzibar flights

South Africa's low-cost airline Mango has temporarily suspended its flights to Zanzibar, which is located 15 miles off the coast of Tanzania.

The airline attributed the suspension of the flights to financial challenges.

The South African government was asked to place the airline under business rescue after an attempt to divert R2.7 billion of the R10.5 billion allocated to South African airways subsidiaries, according to local media reports.

Mango, a subsidiary of the cash-strapped South African airways, had direct flights from South Africa to Zanzibar.

Mango took over the route from OR Tambo in Johannesburg to Zanzibar in 2013 that was previously serviced by 1time Airline.

Travel restrictions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic have left several airlines on the brink of collapse.