Airports Company South Africa has confirmed that smooth travel has resumed at OR Tambo International Airport.

On Monday, December 9, technical challenges on the refuelling system saw delays in flight operation from just after 09:00 to 13:00

ACSA has since unreservedly apologised to all stakeholders and members of the public for the flight disruptions that occurred.

This disruption directly impacted approximately 177 flights and 22 073 passengers between 09:05 and 13:01 when flights resumed.

According to ACSA, the knock-on effect of this four-hour delay impacted further flights and passengers, from 13:00 to 23:00 when the backlog was cleared.

Also read: Refuelling challenges cause flight delays at OR Tambo

The total impact on the ACSA network was 483 flights and 49 429 passengers, and 31 flights cancelled for the day.

In a statement released, ACSA estimated that 1 500 flights and 110 000 passengers are normally processed through its network daily.

“Therefore, about a third of the flights were impacted and about half the daily passengers were impacted.”

This disruption was due to a drive shaft that sheared (or shattered) which prevented the pumping of jet fuel from storage tanks to the aprons, which enables the re-fuelling of aircraft.

“The repair work was conducted in compliance with rigorous safety procedures.”

Through the process the system was depressurised, drained and purged.

Also read: Refuelling challenges at OR Tambo RESOLVED

The repair work done on the day restored the system to normal operating levels.

“An emergency valve replacement is being co-ordinated to ensure continued reliability of that component,” according to ACSA’s statement.

“ORTIA fuel infrastructure has an extensive approved capital programme involving refurbishment and capacity related projects which are at various stages of implementation.”

The estimated value of the projects is R1.5b.

“Since the last incident 24 months ago, where the main fuel valve failed, this was subsequently replaced and operation restored.

“The lessons learnt from this the implementation was that the whole system needed to be overhauled.”