FLY AFRICA ZIMBABWE – BACK TO NORMAL OR NOT?
(Posted 05th November 2015)
The announcement yesterday by Fly Africa, that they will operate later today a flight between Harare and Johannesburg, has set tongues wagging among Zimbabwean and Southern African aviators.
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flyafrica Zimbabwe to operate Harare – Johannesburg on Thursday, 5th November
flyafrica Zimbabwe is pleased to announce that it will operate on the route between Harare, Zimbabwe, and
Johannesburg, South Africa on Thursday 5 November. The flight from Johannesburg is scheduled to depart at 16.00 and will return from Harare at 18.05
flyafrica Zimbabwe is devoted to achieving a fully operational service on all Zimbabwean routes as speedily as possible thereafter.
In order to meet the expectations of loyal customers, flyafrica Zimbabwe has made the decision to combine passengers on the Johannesburg to Harare and Harare to Johannesburg routes on 5 November. Passengers booked for the 6am flight to Harare will be offered to depart on the 16.00 flight from Johannesburg. Passengers booked for the 10.00 flight to Johannesburg will be offered to depart on the 18:05 flight from Harare.
“We are fully committed to our loyal passengers and we are delighted to get partial operations up and running again tomorrow” saysflyafrica.comCEO Adrian Hamilton-Manns. “We apologise profusely for the disruption and inconvenience caused to our passengers and their families and are working around the clock to resume full operations as soon as possible.”
flyafrica Zimbabwe’s Bulawayo and Victoria Falls routes unfortunately remain suspended. An announcement on the resumption of these routes will be made as soon as possible.
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One particular source from Harare subsequently suggested that the continued absence of Fly Africa from the domestic route between Harare and Victoria Falls could indicate that their Air Operator Certificate allowing them to operate domestic flights had not been restored as of the time the statement was made. The same source also suggested that the service announced for Harare – Johannesburg was in fact only a return service of a flight originating in Johannesburg which could be operated under the airline’s South African AOC and traffic rights but may not in fact be a flight covered under the AOC which the CAAZ suspended at the end of October.
Continued and often very negative comments posted on the Fly Africa Facebook page www.facebook.com/flyafrica also indicate a growing anger among the airline’s erstwhile passengers who have since looked and very likely found alternative flights to travel on as they literally voted with their feet by walking away.
An added statement by the airline in regard of their Namibia operation too has swiftly prompted a number of comments, some of which were already posted days ago and mentioned here when a flight between Windhoek and Lanseria failed to operate, stranding scores of passengers at both airports.
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flyafrica Namibia has unfortunately had to cancel today’s flights between Windhoek and Johannesburg as well as Windhoek and Cape Town due to the Namibian Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) authority requesting additional documentation in respect of the aircraft that flyafrica has been utilizing to fulfill the operation. The requested documentation was unable to be delivered to the Namibian DCA in time to allow today’s flights to operate as scheduled. flyafrica Namibia is working with the DCA to ensure that Friday’s flights will operate as scheduled. We would like to apologise to our passengers for the significant inconvenience caused as a result of today’s cancellations by flyafrica Namibia.
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Additional investigations and information obtained from local Namibian aviation sources however reveals a very different picture. It appears that national airline Air Namibia went to court to halt advertised flights between Windhoek and Johannesburg for lack of Fly Africa holding traffic rights, at which stage the South African destination was changed to the smaller Lanseria airport. This again appears to have prompted a challenge in court by the national airline, not only vis a vis Lanseria but also vis a vis Cape Town and that hearing is still due to take place but expected to produce a similar outcome as the initial challenge over destination Johannesburg.
Investigative findings also suggest that the legal platform used for the Fly Africa flights could be a company named as Nomad Aviation (PTY) Ltd. The Namibian Director of Civil Aviation, one Ms. Angeline Simana Paulo, has subsequently come under intense scrutiny over decisions taken in favour of Nomad Aviation, which while holding an AOC for ‘large aeroplanes’ as outlined under the Civil Aviation Regulations of Namibia (NAMCARS Part 121) has reportedly failed to meet the stringent criteria to put a B737-500 on their AOC.
Considering the fact that a number of ICAO consultants are presently working with the Namibian Directorate of Civil Aviation it will be of keen interest to see how they, tasked with improving the regulatory and supervisory environment of the Namibian DCA, will react or report back to ICAO in terms of present day compliance.
One thing again is painfully obvious for Fly Africa, that continued flight cancellations, for whatever reason, in both Zimbabwe and Namibia have caused them some serious problems in regard of public perception over how forthcoming they were with their statements, with added unanswered questions what they knew and when they knew it in the time frame of eventual disclosure.
Other airlines in the region will no doubt be the main beneficiaries of these rocky times for Fly Africa in Zimbabwe and Namibia and once the market is saturated with doubts and mistrust the outcome will be almost predictable.
Watch this space for breaking and regular aviation news.
