JOHANNESBURG Nov 30 Sapa
NATIONWIDE GROUNDING HITS 6,000 PASSENGERS
The grounding of Nationwide aircraft affected 6,000 passengers on
Friday alone, the airline said.
It had to cancel 60 flights -- including one to London on Friday
night and two to Livingstone, in Zambia -- said Nationwide sales and
marketing manager Charmaine Thome.
Also cancelled were the airline's domestic flights to and from Cape
Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth, George, Mpumalanga and Johannesburg, she
said.
"We are really sorry (the passengers) are going through this
experience," she said.
The airline was "truly upset" at what had happened. It is
"definitely not what we want."
Thome said the only airlines "accepting Nationwide paper", or
prepared to give seats to Nationwide ticket-holders were British
Airways and its affiliate Kulula.com -- and then only depending on
availability.
She said Nationwide was offering full refunds to passengers unable
to get alternative transport. It was also offering to change their
tickets for flights on later dates.
The SA Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) suspended its approval of the
airline's in-house aircraft maintenance organisation (AMO) from
midnight on Thursday, CAA chief executive officer Zakes Myeza said on
Friday.
It also suspended the certificates of airworthiness of Nationwide's
fleet of 16 aircraft -- 12 Boeing 737-200s, three Boeing 727s and one
Boeing 767.
"It was unavoidable," Myeza said at a press conference at CAA
headquarters in Midrand.
"We cannot afford to be reckless on this one because we are dealing
with human lives," added CAA legal executive manager executive Nheri
Magoai.
The inconvenience might well be to the benefit of the airline's
passengers, he said.
Nationwide was informed of the decision early on Thursday night.
Airline officials immediately entered into talks with the CAA in a bid
to resolve the matter, but had not reached a solution by 1am.
The airline intended appealing against the decision, said Thome.
CAA aircraft safety executive manager Obert Chakarisa said the
grounding resulted from its consideration of the airline's application
for the annual renewal of its AMO licence.
Instead of approving the licence, the CAA issued an interim renewal
until December 20, conditional on answers to maintenance concerns.
It was coincidental that, during this audit process, an engine fell
off a Nationwide Boeing 737-200 at Cape Town International Airport on
November 7.
The Johannesburg-bound Boeing 737 lost one of its two engines during
take-off from Cape Town airport, yet managed to land safely half an
hour later.
The airline failed to adequately implement three airworthiness
directives issued in response to the incident, said Chakarisa.
These included requirements issued by the manufacturer after four
similar incidents in the United States, which called for, among others,
the refitting of certain bolts on the engine mounting and the
overhauling of certain other components.
While the CAA would not indicate whether pirate parts were found to
have been used on the Nationwide aircraft, it did disclose that the
bolts fitted were "untraceable".
Chakarisa would not comment on whether this type of problem arose
from the emerging phenomenon of low-cost flying.
"They (Nationwide) were 100 percent aware of what had to be
undertaken; what the airworthiness directives were; what parts had to
be replaced," said Myeza.
Magoai said Nationwide would have to prove compliance and the
airworthiness of each aircraft verified before the suspension was
lifted. He would give no indication of how long this could take.
Should Nationwide fail to comply, its licence could be revoked
altogether.
Asked whether the CAA had given any thought to the possibility of
the grounding putting Nationwide out of business, Magoai said: "We do
sympathise with them. It's just an unfortunate event. We hoped we could
avoid it."
Chakarisa said this was not the first time the CAA had grounded an
airline.
The much smaller airlines Nel Air and Execu Aerospace were grounded
over maintenance concerns and two more small airlines would be
suspended in the next week, he said, but would not name them.
Thome said on Friday that Nationwide had not informed passengers of
the grounding on Thursday night as it had hoped to have the matter
resolved by Friday morning.
"We didn't want to panic people unnecessarily. It is the first day
of the holidays. It is a very busy time of year for us," she said.
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