SA Express Grounded After Serious Safety Risks Uncovered

The South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) has suspended SA Express’s Air Operator’s Certificate (AoC) and the airline’s Aircraft Maintenance Organisation (AMO) approvals.

In addition, SACAA has also suspended the Certificates of Airworthiness (CoA) of nine of the 21 aircraft being operated by the airline.

“This effectively means that as of today [Thursday, 24 May], SA Express Pty (SOC) can no longer continue to operate as an airline,” said SACAA in a statement.

In order to operate, SA Express will have to reapply.

Serious non-compliance uncovered

The decision comes after SACAA conducted an audit at the airline and its maintenance organisation in the past few days, which uncovered severe cases of non-compliance that pose serious safety risks.

“While the SACAA does not make the details of its audit findings public, it can, however, be revealed that there were 17 findings, five of which are categorised as Level 1 findings in civil aviation terms.

“A Level 1 category finding can be described as a ‘severe non-compliance or non-conformance that poses a very serious safety or security risk to the public and will necessitate the immediate exercising of the discretionary enforcement powers vested in the authorised persons, in the interests of safeguarding aviation safety or security’.

“The airline could not ensure that operational requirements, and most importantly, safety obligations are met at all times.

“Therefore, the grounding of SA Express operations was inevitable, because in simpler terms the safety management system of the airline was found to be deficient,” said SACAA, and it would automatically pose serious danger for the crew, passengers and the public at large.

SA Express confirmed the above in a statement Thursday afternoon, and added: “Passengers will be accommodated and further information will be available on our website: www.flyexpress.aero and social media platforms which include @flysaexpress and www.facebook.com/flysaexpress. Passengers in need of assistance can also contact 011 978 2355/5096/6384 from 6am to 11pm.”

Sources: SA Express, SAnews.gov.za

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