Flight from South Africa diverted to Boston as travel ban takes effect

BOSTON — A Delta Airlines flight from South Africa was diverted from Atlanta to Boston’s Logan Airport Sunday morning.

A Delta representative said the diversion was due to technical specifications and did not cite the newly identified Omicron variant as a reason for the unexpected pit stop.

No passengers got off the plane.

“This can happen on ultra-long-haul flights when optimal operating conditions can’t be met,” a Delta representative said in a statement.

The Federal Aviation Administration intends to investigate the situation.

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The unexpected stop came the day before President Joe Biden’s travel ban took effect.

As of midnight Monday, travelers from South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, and Zimbabwe are restricted from entering the United States.

Health experts hope the travel ban gives the U.S. more time to study the variant and to better prepare for its imminent arrival, assuming it isn’t already here.

“If you’re going to do the travel ban the way we’ve done now and that we’re implementing right now, utilize the time you’re biding to fill in the gaps,” said Chief Medical Advisor Anthony Fauci. “By time biding, you’re learning more about the virus, you learn what its relationship is to the antibodies induced by vaccines, and you use this time to put the pedal to the floor and get people vaccinated and get people boosted.”

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