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Nationwide to fly by weekend?
05/12/2007 17:14 - (SA)
Johannesburg - Nationwide is hopeful it could have a plane in the air on Friday, the company said on Wednesday.
"That's what we're hoping but its not guaranteed," said Nationwide spokesperson Charmaine Thome.
"We don't want to get people's hopes up."
If possible, a plane would fly to London on Friday, she said.
She said Nationwide was waiting for the SA Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) to complete an inspection and give clearance.
SACAA spokesperson Phindiwe Gwebu said as soon as the aircraft inspection was done, the aircraft would be released to fly.
"That inspection can be finished at any time. We don't necessarily want to commit to Friday. It could happen anytime.
SACAA and Nationwide said in a joint statement that they had concluded a Framework of Compliance on Wednesday.
Natiowide would contract out the heavy maintenance of its aircraft fleet to the SACAA-approved company Safair.
SACAA also gave special permission to Nationwide to move their aircrafts - for maintenance purposes - from Cape Town and Durban to the OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg where Safair is based.
"These aircraft will be flown without any passengers but only with essential flight crew," said the SACAA and Nationwide.
SACAA said it had no doubt that audit findings related to Nationwide could be satisfactorily addressed.
Last Friday, the SACAA grounded Nationwide when its suspended its approval of the airline's aircraft maintenance organisation and suspended the certificates of airworthiness of Nationwide's fleet of aircraft.
The grounding came just weeks after an engine fell off a Nationwide 737-200 on take-off for Johannesburg from Cape Town International Airport. The aircraft landed safely half-an-hour later.
The SACAA said the grounding was not directly linked to this incident.
- SAPA
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