A British Airways pilot was kidnapped and tortured by a large group of criminals during a stopover in Johannesburg on January 10. The incident occurred outside a supermarket after a woman requested the pilot's help carrying her groceries to her car. However, multiple men approached the vehicle and took the pilot hostage. The criminals drove him to a remote area of Johannesburg and repeatedly beat him up for hours until he complied with their requests. The pilot proceeded to hand "thousands and thousands" of British pounds to meet the criminals' monetary requests in exchange for his release.

The pilot operated a British Airways flight between London Heathrow Airport (LHR) and O. R. Tambo International Airport (JNB) in Johannesburg. British Airways offers this route twice daily using flight numbers BA 54, BA 55, BA 56, and BA 57. This route departs from London at 6:25 p.m. and 9:10 p.m. local time, with both flights arriving in Johannesburg the next morning. Flights BA 55 and BA 56 use an Airbus A380, while flights BA 54 and BA 57 use a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. It is unclear which flight the pilot operated because the exact time that the attack in Johannesburg occurred has not been revealed. 

The attackers injured him to the point that British Airways deemed him unfit to operate the return flight from Johannesburg to London. The airline found a replacement pilot who flew back to London. This switch occurred quickly since data from FlightAware shows that two British Airways flights, BA 56 and BA 54, departed from Johannesburg the same day at 7:44 p.m. and 10:08 p.m. local time, respectively. Although the pilot later said he was "shaken" by the attack, he was happy to have escaped alive. The pilot is currently on a leave of absence from work to allow him time to recover physically and mentally.

An unidentified source later said the following about the incident to British media:

“It's staggering what happened to the pilot. It was like something out of the movies. He fell for the scam of agreeing to help a woman in need, and before he knew it was bundled in a vehicle and driven away. He then ended hours of torture and physical assaults. It only ended when he was left penniless. He is just happy to be alive. The incident has shaken crew.”

British Airways informed its staff about a crew member being kidnapped outside Checkers Bluebird supermarket in northern Johannesburg. The airline's employees stay at a hotel in the Melrose Arch neighborhood, considered one of the city's safest neighborhoods. Johannesburg is known for its high crime rate: Numbeo ranked it the world's fifth most dangerous city on the 2023 Crime Index. British Airways chose this specific hotel because it offers 24-hour security and enough leisure facilities to make it unnecessary for employees to leave the compound. The flight's other crew members were not injured in the incident or any other criminal activity during their stopover.

South Africa can be a difficult destination for pilots and cabin crew to spend time in due to its high crime rate. Pretoria and Durban were ranked as the world's second and fourth most dangerous cities, respectively. Port Elizabeth and Cape Town also appeared in the top twenty, with the latter city still being a major tourist destination despite having high crime. British Airways also offers daily nonstop flights between London and Cape Town. Virgin Atlantic employees also face the same safety risks in South Africa since the airline flies year-round to Johannesburg and seasonally to Cape Town from London. 
 

This incident is not the first time in recent months that a British Airways employee was attacked during a stopover in Johannesburg. In July, a British Airways pilot and cabin crew member were assaulted at gunpoint during a run near their hotel. Both employees were reprimanded for violating company policy by leaving their hotel without approval. It is currently unknown if British Airways will condemn the pilot involved in the January 10 incident because it appears the supermarket was inside the airline's designated "safe area" in Johannesburg. These two incidents may cause British Airways employees to reconsider exploring Johannesburg, especially considering British government warnings about "carjacking, 'smash and grab' attacks on vehicles, house robbery, rape, sexual assault, and murder" when visiting South Africa.