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South African Airways (SAA) flights prevented from leaving Zimbabwe
South African Airways and Air Zimbabwe have had flights grounded in both Harare and Zimbabwe. It’s all to do with a permit, apparently. But conspiracy theorists aren’t buying it.
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A number of flights between South Africa and Zimbabwe have been grounded due to “compliance issues”.
News24 reported that an SAA flight out of Harare was grounded on Saturday morning.
According to a Bulawayo24 report, the SAA grounding could be “retaliation” after the South African Civil Aviation authority prevented a Harare bound Air Zimbabwe flight from taking off from OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg on Friday evening, 18 August.
The Air Zimbabwe plane was grounded at OR Tambo International for not having a Foreign Operator’s permit.
The Democratic Alliance, though, have other ideas.
In a statement released on their website, they accused the airlines of a “diplomatic impasse over the assault charges against Zimbabwean First Lady, Grace Mugabe“.
But…
David Chaota, CEO of Civil Aviation Authority of Zim, has told me there's nothing political about the retaliatory grounding of an SAA plane
— Brezh Malaba (@BrezhMalaba) August 19, 2017
“It’s just an issue of compliance. Airlines must operate within an acceptable regime (of rules). The absence of a foreign operator’s permit could be an indicator that something is not right,” said Chaota, as per the African Independent.
Foreign Operator’s Permit issues
It all seems to centre around what is called a “Foreign Operator’s Permit”. Several publications reported that the issue was because of a “foreign operator’s permit”.
South African Civil Aviation Authority says an inspection was conducted Friday evening on the Boeing 767-200 aircraft and it was found not to be in compliance with the guidelines.
The authority says it recently took similar action against other operators, including Turkish Airlines, Qatar Airways and Saudi Airlines.
As it turns out, SAA doesn’t have such a permit either
SAA confirmed the decision to impose the restriction emanates from the requirement from Zimbabwean authorities of a Foreign Operators Permit, Traveller24 reported on Saturday.
And that’s where things get interesting…
According to Bulawayo24, although the FOP is mandatory, “most airlines within the region operate without one, in some form of “reciprocal understanding”.
British Airways flight also grounded
A BA flight was also grounded and prevented from leaving Harare due to not having the right paperwork. Efforts are underway to ensure that the required permits are obtained to prevent further delays and frustrations.
