Gunship
8th Dec 2002, 16:34
News 24 (http://www.news24.com/News24/Finance/Companies/0,4186,2-8-24_1295241,00.html)
Johannesburg - All South African Airways flights from Atlanta in the United States will be about 90 minutes longer following a directive by the US' Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), forcing the carrier's planes to stop at Ilha do Sal, SAA said on Sunday.
The FAA had directed that SAA planes not be allowed to refuel in Atlanta until manufacturers completed investigations into fuel pump reliability on all Boeing 747s and 737-800s, SAA chief executive Andre Viljoen said in a statement.
This meant that long haul flights from Atlanta would have to stop at the Cape Verde island off West Africa to refuel.
The schedule change meant that SA210, which departed Atlanta at 10:30 each day, would stop in Ilha do Sal at 21:45 for an hour-and-a-half and arrive in Cape Town at 9:30 instead of 8:00 and in Johannesburg at 00:30 instead of 23:00.
SA212 would leave Atlanta at 10:30 and arrive in Ilha do Sal at 21:45, also for an hour-and-a-half, arriving in Johannesburg at 9:45 and later in Cape Town at 12:55.
All times are local.
Normal schedules were expected to be resumed by mid-January.
"As usual, SAA will take all precautions to make sure that the safety of its customers will never be compromised," Viljoen said.
Johannesburg - All South African Airways flights from Atlanta in the United States will be about 90 minutes longer following a directive by the US' Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), forcing the carrier's planes to stop at Ilha do Sal, SAA said on Sunday.
The FAA had directed that SAA planes not be allowed to refuel in Atlanta until manufacturers completed investigations into fuel pump reliability on all Boeing 747s and 737-800s, SAA chief executive Andre Viljoen said in a statement.
This meant that long haul flights from Atlanta would have to stop at the Cape Verde island off West Africa to refuel.
The schedule change meant that SA210, which departed Atlanta at 10:30 each day, would stop in Ilha do Sal at 21:45 for an hour-and-a-half and arrive in Cape Town at 9:30 instead of 8:00 and in Johannesburg at 00:30 instead of 23:00.
SA212 would leave Atlanta at 10:30 and arrive in Ilha do Sal at 21:45, also for an hour-and-a-half, arriving in Johannesburg at 9:45 and later in Cape Town at 12:55.
All times are local.
Normal schedules were expected to be resumed by mid-January.
"As usual, SAA will take all precautions to make sure that the safety of its customers will never be compromised," Viljoen said.