Comair’s BA, Kulula flights grounded indefinitely
Comair, which operates flights by British Airways (BA) and Kulula, has been grounded indefinitely after failing to convince the SA Civil Aviation Authority (Sacaa) that it has remedied safety concerns uncovered by the regulator after an investigation into a string of mishaps.
A Business Day report says Sacaa suspended Comair’s air operator certificate on Saturday for an initial 24 hours after an investigation into recent safety incidents by airlines operated by the company.
Comair, which entered voluntary business rescue in May 2020, had initially planned to resume BA and Kulula flights by midday on Sunday pending approval by Sacaa.
However, Sacaa reportedly informed Business Day yesterday that Comair failed to demonstrate during the initial 24-hour suspension period that its risk and safety management systems are capable of managing potential hazards.
Its air operator certificate privileges are now suspended indefinitely until Comair has tackled all the safety concerns highlighted by Sacaa.
‘We have suspended them indefinitely,’ Sacaa’s Phindiwe Gwebu told Business Day.
Sacaa said in a statement on Saturday that in the past month flights operated by Comair had experienced multiple safety hazards ranging from engine failures to engine and landing gear malfunctions.
That prompted Sacaa to visit Comair operations to determine whether it is complying with civil aviation regulations and to inspect its quality control and safety management systems.
The investigation revealed what Sacaa described as three level one findings, an aviation oversight term that indicates issues that pose an immediate safety risk and require immediate closure of operations.
The regulator also made one level two finding, which requires operations to be closed within seven days.
Gwebu told Business Day that since early on Sunday morning, the regulator had been able to close only one of its level one findings against Comair. It was still assessing evidence submitted by the firm related to the two remaining level one findings.
Sacaa later issued another statement on Sunday, announcing Comair’s indefinite suspension and saying the airline operator began dispatching evidence in mitigation of its suspension from Saturday evening.
The regulator said its inspection team worked through the night to review Comair’s evidence and accepted that it had taken corrective action to tackle one level one finding.
Comair submitted further evidence at 7.30am on Sunday, which Sacaa’s inspection team was reviewing.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
