The FlySafair flight FA143 was heading for Cape Town, before it re-routed to Gqeberha – Photo: Ludovic Bechler
The FlySafair flight FA143 was heading for Cape Town, before it re-routed to Gqeberha – Photo: Ludovic Bechler
It’s been a tense old time for South Africa’s aviation industry over the past few months. Since the start of 2022, a number of local flights have been forced into emergency landings, or rapid re-routings. On Wednesday, FlySafair flight FA143 became the latest aircraft to encounter difficulties, after it was diverted to Gqeberha.
The Cape Town-bound flight was forced to touch down at a different airport within an hour of leaving the ground. We’re still trying to piece together the full picture, but FlySafair have made the following details public.
Earlier this month, Comair was forced to ground its fleet of Kulula and British Airways flights, after ‘at least three significant incidents’ called their flight safety status into question. Following a week of introspection, the planes were allowed to take to the skies once more.
However, this FlySafair matter – although mild in nature – will do nothing to settle the jitters amongst casual observers. The airline published a statement yesterday, confirming why the pilots decided to divert the FA143.
“This flight [leaving East London] was diverted to Gqeberha. This was due to technical issues that have now been resolved. After the diversion, the flight then departed for its destination in Cape Town.”
“Shortly after take-off, the crew became aware of an issue, and in the interest of passenger safety, the decision was made to divert Flight FA143 to Gqeberha.”
FlySafair statement
This flight has diverted to PLZ , this was due to technical issues that have now been resolved and this flight has now departed to CPT -FW .
— FlySafair (@FlySafair) March 30, 2022