Passengers were stranded at the East London Airport yesterday morning claiming no arrangements had been made to replace their 6.45am South African Express flight to Johannesburg.
The airline’s operating permits have been suspended by the South African Civil Aviation Authority (Sacaa) and all its aircraft grounded as of May 25.
On the SA Express website it states “the airline has since made contingency plans to accommodate passengers affected by this grounding”.
However, Vuyani Mshiywa, who was forced to miss a crucial business meeting in Johannesburg, said there were no other flights available. “We were not advised in advance. We received no messages or emails about what process we should follow.”
According to fellow passenger Lugiswa Madija, there were no check-in assistants present at the SA Express counters and passengers were told by South African Airways (SAA) assistants that the airline would refund the passengers, but that it could take up to eight weeks.
SA Express spokeswoman Refilwe Masemola said the airline had made contingency plans to avoid disappointing its customers. She said it involved working with partners, including SAA, to ensure that customers were accommodated either on alternative carriers or in hotels if no flights are available.
“In today’s case, I can confirm that passengers were properly re-accommodated on SAA or Airlink,” said Masemola.
However, for passengers at the airport yesterday morning this was not the case. They had to turn around, head home and miss whatever business they had in Johannesburg.
When asked about the incident, South African Airways spokesman Tlali Tlali said customers should refer to the statement released by SAA on May 29.
The statement reads that there is now “an extended schedule as part of the interventions to sustain [the] South African Express network. This is through replacement capacity for a year with partner airlines to support SA Express passengers”.
The statement includes the extended schedule which shows that there are only two daily SAA flights departing from East London to Johannesburg, one at 12.05pm and another at 5.25pm, except on Mondays when the only SAA flight to Johannesburg departs at 5.25pm.
According to the flight schedule emailed to the Daily Dispatch from the EL Airport office, out of five flights departing for Johannesburg yesterday morning, the earliest was a Kulula flight departing at 9am.
There is no more 6.45am flight on any airline for passengers wanting to get from East London to Johannesburg for early morning meetings.
Black Business Forum provincial convener Luthando Bara stated that the grounding of SA Express would be felt by businessmen and women in the city.
“With minimal flights available and the recent price hike in flights on other airlines, businesses in East London and Mthatha will be adversely affected,” he said.
Border-Kei Chamber of Business director Les Holbrook stated that the biggest challenge is the number of seats available and the frequency of flights to and from the city. “So many flights have been dropped and we currently suffer from inadequate service,” said Holbrook. — madeleinec@dispatch.co.za..