Holiday travel plans in balance

Dec 14, 2009 12:01 AM| By
The festive-season flights of close to 50,000 ticket holders are in the balance with Transport Minister Sbu Ndebele to announce today whether he will ground SA Airlink.


Transport Minister Sbu Ndebele
Photograph by: RICHARD SHOREY
" 'This is urgent; the minister has to keep the public informed' " Jacob Zuma
Transport department spokesman Thami Ngidi said Ndebele would hold a meeting in Pretoria today to debrief the South African Civil Aviation Authority on his findings after he was handed a report from the embattled airline on Friday.

Ndebele requested the report from Airlink after a series of incidents involving their aircraft, including one crash after which the pilot died as a result of his injuries.

"The CAA has met Airlink to discuss a way forward and they will discuss this with the minister as well," Ngidi said.

"This is an urgent matter, the minister has to keep the public informed all the way. A decision will be made by the end of the day."

Karin Murray, SA Airlink marketing manager, told The Times that by Friday the airline had bookings for "just over 48,000 tickets for travel over the December-January school holidays".

"Airlink is waiting for further information from the CAA and the transport minister. We will immediately implement whatever remedial actions are required," Murray said.

"Until September 24, Airlink had operated for 17 years with an unblemished safety record and we share the minister's and public concern for aviation safety."

Murray said Airlink was co-operating with the CAA's oversight audit of the airline and had asked former South African Airways chief training captain Scully Levin to conduct an independent safety review.

"If there are any gaps, we want to know what they are and where so we can move immediately to close them," she said.

Recent accidents in Durban, in which an Airlink plane was forced to crash land at a school, in George, where a plane aquaplaned off the runway, and in Port Elizabeth, where a plane veered off the runway during take-off, had involved "different aircraft, crews, circumstances and locations and [are] still under investigation", she said.

Airlink operates more than 3500 flights each month across South and Southern Africa and is the only airline providing services on some routes including to Kimberley, Upington, Phalaborwa, Polokwane, Nelspruit and Maseru.

http://www.timeslive.co.za/news/article232173.ece

JETDRVR....Know anything about this outfit?

Here is a link to their website - check the News section for updates.

http://www.saairlink.co.za/

Wow!! Without SAA airlink, air travel within RSA and to neighboring Zim, Mozambique and Namibia will be non existent, putting the hurt on a lot of folks. Hopefully they can get everything cleared up and worked out. My experience with them has been nothing short of excellent. Good service, on time and what appears to be good conditioned aircraft.

Larry Sellers
SCI Life Member

quote:

Originally posted by stubbleduck47:
JETDRVR....Know anything about this outfit?

Nope, but if it has anything to do with SAA, I would usupect that politics have a hand in these incidents. Just guessing, of course, but I won't get aboard SAA because of reasons previously stated.

Here is a follow-up article to my last post.

SA Airlink will not be grounded

Dec 14, 2009 8:21 PM| By

SA Airlink will not be grounded, but has been given until next Monday to make sure its maintenance programme met required safety standards, the transport department said.

http://www.timeslive.co.za/mul...ne_crash_123233b.jpg

http://www.timeslive.co.za/mul...NK_plane_345765b.jpg

http://www.timeslive.co.za/mul...4_557977_125588b.jpg
The pilot of this SA Airlink plane crash-landed it on a football field in Merebank outside Durban recently, thereby avoiding a densely populated suburb and a major disaster. The plane, which was not carrying any passengers, struck municipal worker Ebrahim Mthethwa, who was cutting grass at the time. Captain Alistair Freeman and Mthethwa were last night in a critical condition in Albert Luthuli Hospital. Two other members of the plane's crew members were in a stable condition
Photograph by: NETCARE 911

Department spokesman Thami Ngidi said in a statement: "Airlink can continue operations, however, this is subject to the resolution of a few immediate concerns, including the submission of a comprehensive corrective action plan as called for by the Civil Aviation Regulations."

An audit by the Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) made three observations and recommendations about Airlink's flight operations and 12 findings on Airlink's maintenance programme. The SACAA would not make its report public, Ngidi said.

The SACCA presented Transport Minister Sibusiso Ndebele with its findings on Friday and discussed them with Airlink's management.

The authority's inspectors would be available during the next week to evaluate Airlink's corrective actions on the spot. The decision not to ground the airline followed three accidents involving Airlink in as many months.

In the most recent accident, a flight carrying 30 passengers skidded off the runway at George Airport and landed on a road near the N2 freeway. Another of the accidents claimed the life of pilot Alistair Freeman.

Following the crashes Ndebele instructed the SACAA to compile a report on the airline's operational and maintenance health.

Ndebele commended the SACAA for its swift action. "It is our responsibility to ensure that we do not compromise safety in all modes of transport... We remain uncompromising in safeguarding the aviation and maritime sectors in our country, which have kept world class standards of safety," he said.

http://www.timeslive.co.za/new...al/article233513.ece

If your maintenance program is seriously suspect, as I assume it must have been to garner this level of notice from the authorities, the idea that you will be able to straighten it all out and check / repair all existing issues between now and NEXT Monday for a fleet of, I gather, 50+ aircraft seems to me the triumph of hope over experience.

quote:

Originally posted by Larry Sellers:
Wow!! Without SAA airlink, air travel within RSA and to neighboring Zim, Mozambique and Namibia will be non existent, putting the hurt on a lot of folks. Hopefully they can get everything cleared up and worked out. My experience with them has been nothing short of excellent. Good service, on time and what appears to be good conditioned aircraft.

Larry Sellers
SCI Life Member

not quite true. i flew Comair from Joburg to Harare ( a BA partner) in Sept with no problem and on time, excellent service. don't where else they fly but suspect throughout the neighboring countries.

SA Airlink is a fine outfit and I'll fly with them any day. Don't over react and jump to all sorts of conclusions based on what Zuma or any other politician has to say. They know shit about most things, especially aviation.

I've flown on them many times, and would fly them again.

well - we can always use air zim

quote:

Originally posted by stubbleduck47:
If your maintenance program is seriously suspect, as I assume it must have been to garner this level of notice from the authorities, the idea that you will be able to straighten it all out and check / repair all existing issues between now and NEXT Monday for a fleet of, I gather, 50+ aircraft seems to me the triumph of hope over experience.

Excellent point. I think the maintenance problem with SAA and its affiliates is systemic and will not be corrected anytime soon. They'll just paper over the holes and keep flying. God forbid they admit there is a real problem. They might have to hire some maintenance personell who aren't politically correct.

Here is the last news statement the airline put out.

statement by airlink 15 december 2009 - 08:30

december 2009
STATEMENT BY AIRLINK CEO & MANAGING DIRECTOR IN RESPONSE TO ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT & COMMISSIONER OF CIVIL AVIATION

15 December 2009 – 08:30

JOHANNESBURG – Airlink welcomes the vote of confidence by the Minister of Transport and SA Civil Aviation Authority (SA CAA) expressed in their confirmation of Airlink’s status as a safe airline.

While we are relieved, once again, I want to apologise to our customers and all South Africans for the anxiety or distress created by the two accidents and incidents involving our planes. The safety and well-being of our passengers, staff and aircraft are – and always have been – our number one priority.

The Minister’s announcement follows the SA CAA’s audit of Airlink’s processes and procedures. This was prompted by the 24 September accident near Durban and the 18 November runway incident at Port Elizabeth. It was given more urgency with last week’s aquaplaning accident at George. The SA CAA is still investigating the causes of these events.

The SA CAA’s audit raised concerns relating to administrative procedures and management structures at Airlink’s Technical facility. Over the weekend a comprehensive assessment of each finding was conducted by Airlink’s executive and technical management team. Corrective actions and procedures were identified. Airlink then immediately begun implementing these measures and yesterday morning reported back to the SA CAA on its progress and actions taken to address their concerns.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the SA CAA indicated its satisfaction with Airlink’s response.

We are also encouraged by preliminary feedback from the SA CAA that, to date, its investigations have found no evidence of deficient maintenance in either of the accidents or incident. We want to continually improve and enhance our operating standards and will continue to review our procedures and processes in this regard.

We have already enhanced its aircraft Operating Procedures, Training and its Pilot Selection process.

In further support of our ongoing quest for safety excellence, the independent review of Airlink’s flight safety processes and procedures by Capt Scully Levin has also begun. Capt Levin will present his recommendations in due course. His brief is to identify improvements that could be made.

We will be keeping the travelling public and the SA CAA abreast of all future developments.

Rodger Foster
CEO & Managing Director
Airlink

Here is the latest on SA Airlink!
SA Airlink perform ‘corrective action’

Dec 22, 2009 3:36 PM| By
SA Airlink is back on track following its submission of a "Corrective Action Programme" (CAP), the SA Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) said.

"The CAP was thoroughly assessed by the SACAA in order to ascertain whether the findings contained in the audit report had been adequately addressed," said SACAA in a statement.

"The CAP submitted to the SACAA provides the SACAA with the assurance that the CAP will address all audit findings by the end of January 2010."

The SACAA said that there were three observations made about flight operations and another 12 on aircraft maintenance.

Last week Transport Minister Sbu Ndebele gave the airline until Monday to make sure its maintenance programme met required safety standards.

"Airlink can continue operations, however, this is subject to the resolution of a few immediate concerns, including the submission of a comprehensive corrective action plan as called for by the Civil Aviation Regulations," he said at the time.

The request followed three accidents involving Airlink in as many months.

On December 7, an SA Airlink flight overshot the runway at George airport. It crashed through a fence before stalling in a ditch.

A few months ago, another Airlink plane crash-landed at school grounds in Durban. The pilot died later of his injuries. Three people were critically hurt.

My neighbour has just told me that today's Lowvelder newspaper is reporting all the Airlink Jetstreams have been grounded due to engine mods that should have been done but haven't.

14 aircraft in total involved.