South Africa’s civil aviation regulator grounded Comair’s planes indefinitely on Sunday over unresolved safety issues.
The move will reportedly also affect low-cost airline Kulula and British Airways, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded.
In an article published by ZimLive, the spokesperson for the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) said it had extended a 24-hour precautionary suspension of Comair’s operator certificate indefinitely.
The suspension was meant to end on Sunday, but Comair has not adequately addressed all the necessary safety issues, the SACAA was quoted as saying.
Comair was reportedly unable to confirm when it would start flying again, after working through the night to provide documentation to SACAA following a review of certain policies, systems and procedures.
“This is a huge blow to our customers, employees and the flying public as it effectively takes 40% of the capacity out of the market,” Glenn Orsmond, Comair chief executive said in a statement.
There would be considerable implications for the aviation sector and the country should the suspension be prolonged, he added.
Issuing the precautionary notice on Saturday, the regulator said in the past month Comair had experienced safety problems ranging from “engine failures, engine malfunction and landing gear malfunctions,” among others.
In its investigations, SACAA said it had discovered three so-called “level 1” findings “which pose an immediate risk” and must be addressed immediately.
Gwebu did not elaborate on what outstanding safety issues Comair, which flies local and regional routes from South Africa under the British Airways (BA) livery as part of a licence agreement, needed to address before flying again.
British Airways/Comair flies daily between Johannesburg and the Zimbabwean cities of Harare and Victoria Falls, and also to Mauritius.
Besides flying BA planes, Comair also operates the Kulula brand.
