Airports Company South Africa has confirmed that Skywise Airline has been suspended from operating at ACSA airports with immediate effect‚ due to unpaid airport charges for landing‚ take off‚ parking of aircrafts and related service charges.
Skywise‚ which was launched in February this year‚ conducting 40 flights a week between Johannesburg and Cape Town‚ earlier confirmed that it owed the airports operator R4m and that it also owed R4m to Air Traffic and Navigation Services.
“There was an agreement reached to pay the arrears in instalments and two instalments were duly paid. The third instalment was due to be paid on 1 December for which an extension of 48 hours was requested and rejected. We got a notice at 5pm yesterday to be shut down with immediate effect‚” the airline said.
It appealed for assistance from the government‚ adding that it had 200 employees who would be jobless not only in the month of Christmas “but God knows until when in a country with choking unemployment levels at above 20%”.
“Surely‚ this is not what we expect from the Government authorities. When Government is spending about R1 billion a day in infrastructure development it is logical that they protect businesses that will complement such efforts and speed up economic growth‚” it stated in its appeal.
Skywise passengers were left stranded on Wednesday morning after its flights were grounded indefinitely by ACSA‚ a day after it was set to double its “fleet of one Boeing”.
Some passengers took to social media to say they could get no information from the airline about the status of their flights.
ACSA said it on Wednesday afternoon the suspension would be withdrawn as soon as Skywise had made appropriate payments in accordance with the Airport Charges Regulations”.
“The airport charges are levied in accordance with the regulations published in Government Notice 1164 of Government Gazette 38362 of 22 December 2014. These regulations were published pursuant to the provision of section 5(2)(f) of the Airports Company Act (‘Airport Charges Regulations’).
“Regulation 2(4) provides that ‘The operator shall pay the appropriate charges for the landing‚ taking-off and parking of an aircraft‚ as set out in the schedule of charges. The operator shall also pay for any supplies‚ services or facilities provided to him or to the aircraft at the airport by or on behalf of the Company at the charges determined by the Company’‚” it stat
ACSA confirms suspension of Skywise Airline
Skywise‚ which was launched in February this year‚ conducting 40 flights a week between Johannesburg and Cape Town‚ earlier confirmed that it owed the airports operator R4m and that it also owed R4m to Air Traffic and Navigation Services.
“There was an agreement reached to pay the arrears in instalments and two instalments were duly paid. The third instalment was due to be paid on 1 December for which an extension of 48 hours was requested and rejected. We got a notice at 5pm yesterday to be shut down with immediate effect‚” the airline said.
It appealed for assistance from the government‚ adding that it had 200 employees who would be jobless not only in the month of Christmas “but God knows until when in a country with choking unemployment levels at above 20%”.
“Surely‚ this is not what we expect from the Government authorities. When Government is spending about R1 billion a day in infrastructure development it is logical that they protect businesses that will complement such efforts and speed up economic growth‚” it stated in its appeal.
Skywise passengers were left stranded on Wednesday morning after its flights were grounded indefinitely by ACSA‚ a day after it was set to double its “fleet of one Boeing”.
Some passengers took to social media to say they could get no information from the airline about the status of their flights.
ACSA said it on Wednesday afternoon the suspension would be withdrawn as soon as Skywise had made appropriate payments in accordance with the Airport Charges Regulations”.
“The airport charges are levied in accordance with the regulations published in Government Notice 1164 of Government Gazette 38362 of 22 December 2014. These regulations were published pursuant to the provision of section 5(2)(f) of the Airports Company Act (‘Airport Charges Regulations’).
“Regulation 2(4) provides that ‘The operator shall pay the appropriate charges for the landing‚ taking-off and parking of an aircraft‚ as set out in the schedule of charges. The operator shall also pay for any supplies‚ services or facilities provided to him or to the aircraft at the airport by or on behalf of the Company at the charges determined by the Company’‚” it stat
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