Breaking: SACAA suspends Comair indefinitely

All Comair flights are grounded until further notice. Photo: Keith Burton / flickr

The South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) has suspended Comair (Kulula and British Airways) flights INDEFINITELY.

This means that all Kulula and British Airways flights in and from South Africa have now been grounded.

After yesterday’s (12 March) temporary suspension, the SACAA has decided to suspend Comair’s air operation certificate until further notice.

Comair, which operates both Kulula.com and British Airways flights in South Africa, had hoped to resume flying again by midday today (13 March) after their 24-hour grounding yesterday.

Why was Comair suspended?

According to the SACAA, their decision came after a range of safety concerns were just not addressed by Comair. The 24-hour grounding was used to determine if the airline’s risk and safety management systems were effective in managing potential dangers. In a statement yesterday, The Authority said:

“Just in the past month, Comair operations experienced occurrences ranging from engine failures, engine malfunction and landing gear malfunctions, amongst others. In the interest of safety, the CAA visited the operator to investigate and determine if Comair was in compliance with applicable Civil Aviation Regulations. The inspection also aimed to review 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.”

After the 24-hour investigation was complete, the CAA had then decided that despite Comair’s efforts to resolve the matter as speedily as possible, they had found that there were certain risks that the airline had to see to immediately.

In a new statement released today, The Authority announced:

“The SACAA is fully committed to ensuring that the operator is back in the air and has dedicated a full team to assess and review the evidence as it gets submitted. The commitment to safety, in this case, supersedes any other need, and this is to ensure that South Africa maintains its safety record of having ZERO fatal airline accidents,”

ALSO READ: Engine trouble mid-air? Kulula flight forced into emergency landing

Sundeeka Mungroo

Sundeeka Mungroo is a content writer, foodie and all-round adventure-seeker. She's a graduate of the University of South Africa with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature, and has worked as a copywriter and editor in the digital marketing industry. Sundeeka currently writes for I Love South Africa and The South African. She lives in the beautiful Mother City and loves exploring all that South Africa has to offer.