Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula, addressing the media at Parliament in Cape Town during a briefing on Tuesday afternoon said the flight cancellation and delay chaos at South African airports was expected to return to normal by the end of the week – following a noncompliance issue during a South African Airways Technical (SAAT) audit that grounded some Comair and South African Airways (SAA) planes.
Travellers woke up on Tuesday morning to the alert that they should expect delays if they were travelling with kulula.com, British Airways operated by Comair, SAA and Mango, as a result of the irregularities found by the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) during routine safety checks.
"This is not a total shutdown, it's not a crisis, it's a normal process – airlines were not ordered to ground their planes, it was a cautionary reaction to the report," Mbalula said.
But what Mbalula did not clarify was the actual issue centred around the "noncompliance" of SAAT, as detailed by statements issued by both the SACAA and the affected airlines.
While the transport minister praised the SACAA's consistent "safety record and accolades from peers around the world", he seemed to cast a shadow on it by saying the regulator had "not ordered the grounding" and that it was self-imposed by the affected airlines.
The requirements of a "Corrective Action Plan", as requested by the SACAA, makes it clear that operations are not an option, but specific to the affected planes pinpointed in the audit.
Referencing the grounding that has affected Comair's kulula and British Airways as well as SAA, with knock-on delays for Mango, Mbalula says, "Certain aircraft were issued with a prohibition order to address non-compliance issues. The delays were precautionary measures taken by the affected airlines."
The SACAA said in an earlier statement the airlines are expected to provide assurance to the regulator that all aircraft released back to service "meet the regulatory requirements".
"If any of the aircraft is deemed not to be safe to fly, then the operator is expected to correct any non-conformities and ensure that the affected aircraft are not flown before the necessary corrective measures are undertaken."
At the time of the briefing, all affected airlines had contingency plans are in place, with Comair being the only airline that has issued a statement confirming it expects to be fully operational by Wednesday.