Thousands stranded as aviation authority grounds Comair indefinitely

Comair was this morning grounded indefinitely by the South African Civil Aviation Authority. It is the third South African airline company since 2007 grounded due to safety concerns.

Comair operates budget airline Kulula.com and a local British Airways franchise. It was initially grounded for 24 hours on Saturday, pending resolution of what the regulator referred to as ‘safety’ issues.

Thousands of passengers are expected to be stranded today and this coming week. Comair has been in business rescue since early May 2020.

The airline released a statement thirty minutes prior to the CAA’s announcement, saying it may resume operations pending the regulator’s decision.

Comair’s initial 24-hour grounding gave the operator an opportunity to address concerns. In its statement this morning, the CAA said:

“Following the 24-hour precautionary suspension of Comair PTY Ltd’s Air Operator Certificate (AOC) privileges on Saturday morning 12 March 2022, the SA Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) confirms the AOC is now indefinitely suspended pending the Operator addressing all the findings as communicated by the Regulator on Saturday morning.”

Airlines were grounded nationwide in 2007, after an incident where an engine fell off an aircraft wing during takeoff in Cape Town.

In addition, Comair was grounded for an extended period two years ago due to maintenance concerns. Comair’s initial suspension was as a consequence of several incident-related occurrences in reasonably short succession to one another.

A passenger who was on one of the Kulula aircraft involved in a recent incident said, “(We) were on a Kulula flight recently that experienced engine failure”. She adds:

“We went through the terror of an emergency landing (air hostess was crying!) I was flippen crying!! It was frightening for everyone on board. Turns out we were one of three Kulula planes who had emergency landings in a month!

The passenger also commended the pilot “who handled [it] like a pro and addressed all of us face to face after the ordeal.”

“But I look judgingly on Kulula.com who did not acknowledge or address the situation with its passengers and who allowed planes to keep flying knowing there were serious issues with their planes”.

Previously, The Citizen reported on a staff survey conducted by trade union Solidarity where employees indicated a concern over safety.

As per the report, released back in December, approximately 66% of staff felt their safety at work was being compromised.

ALSO READ: SACAA suspends kulula.com, British Airways flights for 24 hours

The CAA statement indicated the following findings:

“The suspension follows the visit by the SACAA to the Operator to investigate and determine the cause of a spate of occurrences affecting a concerning number of flights operated by Kulula.com and BA Comair. 

“The SACAA sought to confirm Comair’s compliance with applicable Civil Aviation Regulations (CARs).

“The inspection was also aimed at reviewing Comair’s quality control management system (QC) and safety management systems (SMS) to establish compliance related to reporting, analysis and follow-up on occurrences, and corrective action plans to prevent recurrence.”

The statement continued: “This resulted in the Regulator raising three (3) level 1 findings, and one (1) level 2 finding.

“In terms of the oversight philosophy of the Regulator, a level 1 finding is an outcome which poses an immediate risk to safety and security, and it must be closed with immediate effect and a level 2 finding must be closed within 7 days.”

The CAA did not elaborate on the exact nature of the findings, save for commenting to The Citizen: “We do not wish to go into detail about each finding, suffice to say the two remaining level 1 findings relate to the operator’s lack or deficiency in implementing their own approved safety management system manual.”

Aviation expert Guy Leitch said the CAA would not engage in such action lightly. He expects the regulator has solid reasons for its actions.

Comair said it was not ready with a statement at the time of filing this story.