All Nationwide flights grounded

2007-11-30 08:26

Johannesburg - The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has grounded all Nationwide flights, the airline confirmed on Friday.

Nationwide was notified by fax late on Thursday night that the CAA had revoked its aviation maintenance organisation licence, said the airline's sales and marketing manager Charmaine Thome.

"This has led to the grounding of aircraft," she said, adding: "We don't know where we stand at the moment."

Thome said the airline had not been given a "solid reason" for the move.

Engine drama

It had not once been told it was linked to the drama at Cape Town International Airport on November 7 when an engine dropped off Nationwide flight CE723.

"We were cleared of that incident," said Thome.

The Johannesburg-bound Boeing 737 lost one of its two engines during take-off from Cape Town airport, yet managed to land safely half an hour later.

The airline said the engine had sucked in "an object" as the plane was taking off.

Following the incident, the CAA ordered a full inspection of all Boeing 737-200s.

Boeing 737-200s belonging to Comair and Kulula and SAA Cargo were later declared safe after engine mount inspections.

Overnight talks

Thome said Nationwide's chief executive officer Vernon Bricknell had been in talks with the CAA overnight.

"We had hoped this would be resolved (by) this morning," she said.

As a result, the company had not notified passengers. "We didn't want to panic people unnecessarily. Unfortunately he returned without any result," she said.

Nationwide was only now "putting out correspondence" notifying users of the grounding.

Thome said the airline was trying to get passengers onto other flights, but could not say which airlines.

"Whoever is prepared to help, really."

She could not say how many flights would be affected or how many passengers. The number of flights varied from day to day, she explained.

"It is the first day of the holidays. It is a very busy time of year for us."

Thome said Nationwide's licence had been valid and was renewed a month or so ago.

The CAA would not comment on the matter on Friday morning. Spokesperson Phindiwe Gwebu said the matter would be dealt with at a press conference at CAA headquarters in Midrand at 08:45.

- SAPA