FUTURE IN DOUBT OF FLYAFRICA AS CHARTER FLIGHT BARELY AVOIDS THE CAA AXE TO FALL
(Posted Friday the 13th of October 2017)
As reported here two and a half weeks ago did the #Zimbabwe Civil Aviation Authority run out of patience with FlyAfrica and set them a deadline to take to the air or else risk losing their licence.
Though it appears the deadline was extended, apparently to midnight last night local time, was the airline struggling to perform that crucial flight.
Information obtained suggests that they had just 33 minutes to spare before eventually taking off
(Picture courtesy of Jerry Haas? @IamMrHaas)
It seems, in the absence of their own aircraft, did FlyAfrica contract an African Charter Airlines B737 to perform that crucial flight, taking off at 23.27 hrs with 33 minutes to spare before the midnight deadline would have brought the axe down on them.While technically meeting the ZCAA requirement to take to the air – even though there are doubts if all paperwork had been correctly filed – does this raise more questions though than provide answers.
Many many Zimbabweans, conned out of their money by the old FlyAfrica and still waiting for their refunds – going by acid comments posted on social media – will pursue their compensation with renewed vigour and not rest till they have been paid.
Meanwhile is the new FlyAfrica still not having their own aircraft on the ground in Zimbabwe, clearly struggling to maintain an orderly flight operation.
After discussing these developments with other aviation pundits was agreement reached that such shambolic start up preparations cast doubts over the professionalism of the individuals concerned and their advisors who clearly totally failed to do their job, i.e. get the airline airborne in time and within the permitted cost frame.
Meanwhile was it also confirmed that the website painted on the initial B737 FlyAfrica presented in Harare, remains invalid, leaving readers to draw their own conclusions just about how serious this upstart.
Welcome to: flyafricaclub.comThis Web page is parked for FREE, courtesy of GoDaddy.com.
The original website www.flyafrica.com too is unreachable and the company’s Facebook page has not seen any updates since December 2015. www.flyafrica.com
https://www.facebook.com/flyafrica/
The following error was encountered:
Unable to determine IP address from host name for www.flyafrica.com
The dnsserver returned:
Name Error: The domain name does not exist.
Watch this space for breaking and regular aviation news from the wider Eastern African region!
