Perhaps if more people did some research into the matter they would find that the disruptions were caused by foreign-registered VIP a/c who refused to vacate King Shaka Intl (FALE) and fly to the old Durban Intl (FADN) where there was enough parking space. This was the plan and would've gone smoothly had all parties involved co-operated thoroughly.

There was more than enough planning for it, but there is only a certain amount of things you can do about stubborn pilots who do not want to move their aicraft. Most of these were light jets taking up jetways that were "reserved" for incoming scheduled traffic.

It has nothing to do with South Africa being a 3rd World Country. Maybe all of our critics should also research some of the facilities (namely airports and stadiums) that are obviously not third world quality. This will surely silence you like the rest of the critics!

747: what utter rubbish. Who in their right mind is going to fly a multimilion-dollar aircraft to an airfield that has no traffic control, no fire service, no handling infrastructure, no security and no fuel. And what about insurance? What if something happened to one of those aircraft. Do you think their insurace wld have paid out? And as for the minister of transport sueing them - even more rubbish. It was a balls-up finish and klaar!

:ugh:Phone ACSA yourself and find out what the plan was Selfloader! I'm merely repeating what was APPARENTLY a well-known fact.

"... but there is only a certain amount of things you can do about stubborn pilots who do not want to move their aicraft." - your words 747, and the basis of your argument. I repeat, what pilot in his right mind is going to park his boss's jet on an unserviced runway, and expect to keep his job. Didn't this occur to ACSA... or you?

Accountability, responsibility... not in Africa
 

CXt,
Welcome to Africa, there will be a hundred excuses on PPrune and in the newspaper. No one will take responsibility or be accountable. That is the story of Africa.
2 Hours should be enough on an organized tour, being bussed from the airport, organized parking and drop off at the stadium.

We can use anything from colonialists , T.I.A. or if all else fail we will just call you a racist.

Are you surprised the world has no respect for Africa?

Jeez guys it was 400 people over a 4 week period in what has been a magnificent World Cup. Sure it was a mess but in the bigger scheme of things,you cannot use this incident to judge the whole World Cup. By the way it seems as if the Government is taking public responsibility, apologising and offering compensation (not that it will make up for missing the game, but something nevertheless), they keep disappointing the doubters and doing things right. I am no big fan of African bureaucracy but give credit where credit is due (well done cavorting cheetah) sit back and enjoy the soccer. You'll probably enjoy it if you stop waiting for things to go wrong. Up the Dutch!

As to the original question: was RSA prepared for the SWC?

Well, considering what has happened and specially what has not happened, it seems that South Africa was pretty much prepared. But looking at the inferior infrastructure, public transport and rather long distances to travel between venues (compared to Europe for example) I would think, that everything was operating closer to red line, than in many previous SWCs held in 'first world' countries. Durban was just an example as to how many factors were involved:

Foreign Travel Agents: no one with decent knowledge of RSA should have planned for any soccer fan to arrive on a flight scheduled to land 2 hours before the match. Even if bus shuttles were available, how are they supposed to make their way through a traffic jam.

ACSA: they should have made use of the space on the airport available (cargo apron). They should have realized, that 1 fuel bowser available wouldn't be able to cope. Expecting a 30 minute ground time for non scheduled flights is unreasonable, unless it has been in the notams, that fuel might not be available and inbound flights should have enough fuel to be able to relocate to another airport. It is also unreasonable to expect operators to fly into the old Durban airport, since it is closed for civil operations and insurances wouldn't cover any damages.

ATNS / slots: slots for landing should have only been issued, after an outbound flight plan was filed, as to indicate the planning & willingness of the operator to relocate the aircraft.

Air crews: those refusing to move are certainly to blame, too. If confronted with a notam stating the necessity to relocate to another airfield within a certain time, it is rather short sighted to THEN point out, that old Durban is unsuitable. As to the refueling situation, at least those with local knowledge should have expected problems and come prepared.

Good summary DaFly

Yeah, some did. There were at least 20 or so a/c at DIA.

cavortingcheetah

When you said:
Do you realise just how many Scots, Irish and Welsh men and women you upset?

ian16th.
I am not quite sure I understand that. Should I have referred to the team as the English team? I thought the Scotland team dropped by the braeside a while ago and had subsequently let it be known that they would support anyone who beat the English? As for the Irish and the Welsh I fear I had only thought of those two great nations as providers of steadfast locks in Rugby.
But in order to save you sticking pins images of cheetahs made from calcified porridge let me please say that I didn't mean to cause offence to any one other than the anonymous team sent down to South Africa to represent England.