South African Airways (SAA) has announced recovery plans that entail replacement capacity with partner airlines to support South African Express passengers. This comes after the suspension of SA Express operations by the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) on Thursday.
The audit coincided with the introduction of a stabilisation programme at the airline, which has undergone significant leadership changes over the last twelve months. The next few days will see the SA Express leadership team, as well as Minister Pravin Gordhan’s Intervention Team, share the stabilisation plans with the SACAA.
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The initial SA Civil Aviation authority audit found 17 issues of non-compliance and resulted not only in the immediate suspension of its operating license but also the suspension of Certificates of Airworthiness (CoA) for nine of the 21 aircraft being operated by the airline. The SACAA cited non-compliance in relation to 17 specific findings, with five being severe.
SA Express now has to reapply and be issued with relevant approvals, says SACAA in relation to the "air operating certificate, and an approval for the aircraft maintenance organisation, and certificates of airworthiness for the grounded aircraft".
What should affected passengers do?
Three partner airlines, SAA, Mango Airlines, SA Airlink, are working with the airline to avoid a major impact on passengers due to the suspension of SA Express services.
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“Our priority remains customer assistance in the best way possible in order to minimise the inconvenience caused by the suspension of SA Express services,” says SAA Spokesperson, Tlali Tlali.
“We have a recovery plan which was activated soon after the suspension of SA Express operations.” Passengers scheduled to depart, between 06h00 and 09h00 on 25 May 2018, have been advised to proceed to SA Express counters for information relating to the contingency plans made for these flights, or alternatively call 0800 214 774 and +27 11 978 6699. Passengers are further encouraged to take note of the following:
• SAA will rebook, reroute or refund passengers whose travel plans have changed due to suspension of SA Express flights.
• Passengers on SA coded tickets and SA code share will be accommodated on a priority basis.
• SAA will, in accordance with its compensation policy, compensate all passengers where applicable
.“We sincerely apologise to all affected customers for the inconvenience caused by the suspension of SA Express services,” concluded Tlali.SAA says it will provide regular updates on the situation and will use all its official communication channels to share information on the status of the flights.
Passengers can contact SA Express on the following: Toll Free number: 0800 214 774 (06h00 to 23h59 SA Time), International Dialling: +27 11 978 6699 or via social media and their website www.flysaa.com.