SAA praised for ‘responsible move’ in Malawi

SA Airways (SAA) has made a responsible move by halting its operations in Blantyre, Malawi, according to experts.

This comes in the wake of an SA Civil Aviation Authority (Sacaa) inspection that revealed that Chileka International Airport was not safe.

Sacaa, the aviation regulator responsible for carrying out inspections on all international airports used by South African airlines, said its inspectors had noted several instances of non-compliance with international safety standards at Blantyre, one of two main airports in Malawi.

These were enough to raise safety concerns.

Sacaa spokesperson Pappie Maja said: “Notably, the airport’s perimeter fence is vandalised and falls short of the set international standards. Due to lack of maintenance, both the ambulance and fire engine are not dependable.

“This state of affairs may have catastrophic consequences for the airline’s passengers and crew in an event that one of their aircraft or surrounding facilities catches fire.

“As things stand, that would mean that emergency support services would not be instantly available as prescribed by civil aviation regulations worldwide.”

After receiving the findings, SAA’s move to cancel operations there has been welcomed by Sacaa.

“It depicts a determination by the operator to prioritise safety and compliance above anything else”.

The airline has since submitted a corrective action plan to the regulatory body and will work with the relevant bodies to ensure the airport meets its operational standards.

Joining Sacca in welcoming the move, aviation expert and Plane Talking managing director Linden Birns said SAA was left with no choice but to put a halt on operations in Blantyre.

Birns said “it would be difficult for SAA to operate in an airport that did not comply with the international standard of aviation prescribed by the [United Na-tions] body and it would cause problems in liability and insurance for the airline if anything were to happen. So it was a very responsible move.”

SAA spokesperson Tlali Tlali said, for now, there will be limited impact to two outbound and inbound flights for Saturday and Monday only.

Even for those, SAA has put a mitigation plan in place to allow for passengers to fly to or from Lilongwe without incurring any penalty for rerouting flights.

“We cancelled Saturday and Monday flights only,” Tlali said.

“We hope to reinstate the service this week once the regulator indicates satisfaction with the corrective action plan we have submitted.”

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