Panafrican News Agency

Major disruption to South African flights due to compliance verification

Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – Flights between several main routes were suspended on Tuesday after South African Airways announced that it would recall some of its aircraft to undertake compliance verification in line with South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) requirements.

This follows an oversight inspection conducted by SACAA at the South African Airways Technical Department where aircraft are maintained. It appeared that an inspector who was not authorised to sign off on the aircraft had done so.

Four domestic flights have been cancelled, but the airline said it will combine flights and deploy bigger aircraft to accommodate affected passengers. Affected aircraft may not be flown until the “necessary corrective action has been carried out."

Budget airline Mango confirmed that some of its aircraft were also affected and there had also been delays, but it expected its schedule to resume as normal by Tuesday night.

And a third of Comair’s services were also  affected.

“Comair has contingency plans in place and aims to minimise any disruption to its operations. We will keep our customers updated," it said, adding that it is also audited by British Airways International, the Boeing Company as well as SACAA.

-0- PANA CU/AR 22Oct2019