A day of highs and lows for SA Express

It was a day of highs and lows for SA Express yesterday, with the announcement of the new board followed shortly by SA Civil Aviation Authority (Sacaa) announcing it had revoked the airline’s operating permits. This effectively meant the troubled airline had been grounded.

Announcing the board, chaired by Tryphosa Ramano, public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan was critical of the way the airline was being managed. He said SA Express’ ongoing financial woes were the result of people focusing more on fattening their own pockets.

“Entities like SA Express find themselves where they are because the focus became the question of ‘how can I steal’, rather than ‘how can I make this airline run properly?’” he said. “It has been in dire straits for some time; it is an indication of the malfeasance at SA Express.”

Gordhan said a recent investigation into the airline revealed that a contract of R5.7 million was irregularly awarded to the Gupta-linked Trillian Consultancy for assistance in raising capital, although no capital was ever raised.

He raised several other irregular contracts, saying more revelations were expected soon.

The minister announced plans to provide short-term financing to keep the airline afloat but, later in the day, Sacaa grounded all those plans. The aviation authority said it had suspended the airline’s air operator’s certificate and the aircraft maintenance organisation approvals.

Nine of SA Express’ 21 aircraft have also been grounded due to their certificates of airworthiness being suspended.

“This effectively means that as of today … May 24, 2018, SA Express PTY (SOC) can no longer continue to operate as an airline,” the statement said. “In order to be able to operate, SA Express will have to reapply and be issued with relevant approvals, i.e. an air operating certificate and an approval for the aircraft maintenance organisation, and certificates of airworthiness for the grounded aircraft.”

The statement said the decision to revoke the permits came after Sacaa conducted an audit of the airline’s maintenance, uncovering “severe cases of noncompliance that pose serious safety risks”.

“While the Sacaa doesn’t make the details of its audit findings public, it can however, be revealed that there were 14 findings, five of which were categorised as level 1 findings in civil aviation terms.”

Level 1 findings are described as severe noncompliance, posing serious safety or security risks to the public.

“The airline couldn’t ensure that operational requirements and importantly, safety obligations were met at all times. Therefore, the grounding of SA Express operations was inevitable because in simpler terms, the safety management system of the airline was found to be deficient.

“Following this grounding, it is expected that the operator would make arrangements with Sacaa to fly all affected aircraft back to the home base.”

– news@citizen.co.za

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