Comair (Kulula & BA) and SAA planes grounded: What travellers need to know

[The Free Radical]

Safety concerns and irregularities at South African Airways Technical (SAAT) have affected both South African Airways (SAA) and Comair planes, operated by kulula and BA - with travellers warned of affected flight schedules and flight delays as a result.
SAA has issued a statement saying some of its flight will operate later than usual, with contingency measure being put in place as it has had to "recall some of its aircraft to undertake compliance verification in line with the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) requirements".
This follows the same audit inspection by the SACAA at SAA’s maintenance subsidiary, South African Airways Technical (SAAT) that has seen Comair needing to ground some of its planes.

SAA confirmed four domestic flight cancellations, saying it has combined flights and deploy bigger aircraft to accommodate affected passengers reduce the impact of the grounding.

Read more - https://www.traveller24.com/News/Flights/comair-grounding-what-travellers-need-to-know-20191022

 

[Gaz{M}]

Lawyer up, Sue. A disgrace for a tax payer bailed out state maintenance provider.

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

this sounds bad, wonder what going to happen during December when everybody going to fly around.

 

[Jopie Fourie]

Did BA not stop making use of the services of SAAT due to incompetence and staff not knowing what they were doing?

 

[rpm]

Comair update

We can confirm that four of the affected aircraft have been released back into service and we are expecting the full fleet to be back in operation by tomorrow morning.

The flight schedule has been amended for today and we are working tirelessly to normalise the schedule and minimise disruption for our customers.

 

[MidnightWizard]

The WHOLE bang shoot soon to go the way of PRASA

Gravy trains: Prasa’s ‘Dr’ Daniel Mtimkulu helped sister’s company pocket R57m for ‘non-existent’ work

Gravy Planes
Gravy Trains

What is the difference ?

Perhaps we may soon find out ....

 

[ponder]

Rumour has it the issue is related to the 'provenance of parts', the parts are fine but there are paperwork issues that need correcting. This is why they can get back in the air so quickly.

 

[EADC]

Had a two hour delay on Sunday leaving CPT to Lanseria on Kulula due to their plane having issues and needed to find one to service the route.

 

[Temujin]

Rumour has it the issue is related to the 'provenance of parts', the parts are fine but there are paperwork issues that need correcting. This is why they can get back in the air so quickly.

Translation: Wheres my cut?

 

[joshuatree]

The way things are going I would soon rather drive than fly domestic. Lekker old school nostalgic road trips.

 

[Jopie Fourie]

The way things are going I would soon rather drive than fly domestic. Lekker old school nostalgic road trips.

.
Agreed. Will not be flying any domestic route any time soon. There are suckers who can take the 'fall' on my behalf.

 

[Blue Shirt]

The way things are going I would soon rather drive than fly domestic. Lekker old school nostalgic road trips.

.
Agreed. Will not be flying any domestic route any time soon. There are suckers who can take the 'fall' on my behalf.

Both of you obviously have no understanding of the modern aviation industry.

I would rather fly from Johannesburg to Cape Town a million times more than drive the same route. My chances of dying en-route will be much, much smaller than you guys having to dodge potholed roads, trucks, taxis, unroadworthy vehicles and drunk drivers while spending more money and 10x more time getting to the same destination.

 

[rpm]

Please see below a further update from Comair.

At of 10:15 this morning a third of Comair’s services have been affected due to the notice received from the SACAA.

We are continuously updating our contingency plans and communicating with our customers by SMS, however to avoid unnecessary frustration, customers can check revised departure times on kulula.com, ba.com or Comair.co.za

Our staff are working hard to ensure minimum disruption to our customers.

We are actively working with SAAT and SACAA to find a speedy solution.

We thank all our customers for their understanding and patience.

 

[Jopie Fourie]

Both of you obviously have no understanding of the modern aviation industry.

I would rather fly from Johannesburg to Cape Town a million times more than drive the same route. My chances of dying en-route will be much, much smaller than you guys having to dodge potholed roads, trucks, taxis, unroadworthy vehicles and drunk drivers while spending more money and 10x more time getting to the same destination.

Don't care about your habits. Go fly unsafe planes if you want. I'll rather drive down.

 

[Aharon]

Long time coming after the publicized Mango nosedive. Watching with keen interest

 

[Blue Shirt]

Don't care about your habits. Go fly unsafe planes if you want. I'll rather drive down.

Do you even realise or care that its comments like these that put you on so many people's ignore lists? I guess not.

Guess what, I don't care about your habits either. Go drive dangerous roads if you want. I'll rather fly down.

 

[rpm]

STATEMENT BY AIRPORTS COMPANY SOUTH AFRICA

Airports Company South Africa is aware of the notification by the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) to Comair and SAA that certain of their aircraft may not be flown until issues identified by the authority have been resolved.

We are working with the affected airlines to understand their respective contingency plans and what the potential impact of the SACAA directive on airport operations.

Airports Company South Africa will provide further information as soon as it is available to us. In the meantime, affected passengers should remain in contact with their respective airlines.

 

[joshuatree]

This is huge.

Dalk net die oortjies van die seekoei.

This might just be the start of a catastrophic breaking story and shutdown.

 

[Aharon]

Indeed massive. Makes you wonder if the fake part allegations were true.

Any word on which aircraft are grounded?

 

[The_Librarian]

Boeing Max not going to make things easier as well...