Actress Baby Cele was among throngs of irate passengers stranded at Cape Town International Airport yesterday when the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) grounded Kulula and British Airways flights across SA after a series of midair emergencies.
Passengers stood in two snaking queues leading to Kulula and British Airways counters to ask if they would get refunds or alternative flights.
Comair — which operates both airlines — said earlier in the day that none of its flights would take off for the next 24 hours after they were suspended by the aviation regulator — a move which it said was “unjustified”.
The regulator said Comair has to prove its planes are safe or risk being grounded indefinitely.
“This decision was reached after an investigation into the recent spate of safety incidents at the operator,” it said in a statement.
“This is a precautionary suspension for a period of 24 hours, within which the operator must demonstrate to the regulator that the risk and safety management systems are effective in managing potential hazards.”
On February 10, shortly after taking off from Lanseria in Johannesburg for a flight to Cape Town, one of the two engines failed on a Kulula Boeing 737-800. The pilot issued a mayday call and the plane and its 157 passengers landed safely at OR Tambo.
Ten days later, British Airways flight BA6252 had to make an emergency landing at King Phalo Airport in East London shortly after it had taken off for Johannesburg.
The airline said the landing gear had failed to retract. A video shot inside the plane showed passengers crying and praying. Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane was on the flight.
Last week, another Kulula flight had to divert to OR Tambo from Lanseria after an “engine-related” issue. The airline confirmed that flight MN451 landed safely and that passengers were accommodated by British Airways.
The CAA said yesterday: “Just in the past month, Comair operations experienced occurrences ranging from engine failures to engine malfunction and landing gear malfunctions, among others.
“In the interest of safety, the [CAA] visited the operator to investigate and determine if Comair is in compliance with applicable civil aviation regulations.
“The inspection was also aimed at reviewing Comair’s quality control management system and safety management systems to establish compliance related to reporting, analysis and follow-up on occurrences, and corrective action plans to prevent recurrence.”
These investigations revealed three level 1 or “high risk” findings, which called for the immediate suspension of flights.
The investigations also led to a level 2 finding, which would have given the airline seven days' notice of grounding.
Hundreds of cyclists have descended into Cape Town for the Cape Town Cycle Tour today.
Cele was due to fly to Johannesburg on a British Airways flight when she was told it had been cancelled. She called her 12-year-old son to explain that she might be home late and a planned outing had to be postponed.
“I left Durban on Thursday, I came to Cape Town for a shoot and I am done. I was going to fly back and this has messed up a lot of things,” she said.
Not far from Cele’s table sat Salome Hurwitz, 80, and her husband Joel. Hurwitz participated in the South African Master Swimming Championships at the University of the Western Cape and her husband came to support her.
“We are going back home to Johannesburg. We had booked a Kulula flight. We are stuck here,” said Hurwitz.
I left Durban on Thursday, I came to Cape Town for a shoot and I am done. I was going to fly back and this has messed up a lot of things
— Actress Baby Cele
“A gentleman standing outside Kulula said to us: ‘Go to Lift’. I said: ‘What is lift? There are escalators here not lifts.’ He said there is an airline called Lift and I ran quickly and I got to the flight and they didn’t increase their price. Their flight was R1,500. Another airline was charging double.”
Hurwitz said she was disappointed because the airline failed to warn her about its problems.
“I got a message through the swimming association, not from anybody else,” she said.
Asked by the Sunday Times why it felt the CAA decision was “unjustified”, Comair said: “We respect the [CAA] and its mandate. We are engaging and working with it on an urgent basis to get the suspension lifted.
“The safety of our customers and crew is always our top priority and is never compromised. We operate some of the most modern aircraft in South African skies. We apply global best practice to ensure operational safety and are regularly subjected to third-party inspections to ensure we meet or exceed these exhaustive standards, such as the recent [CAA] review. As a result of this review we are currently providing the [CAA] with the information it has requested,” Comair said.
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