Regulators Ground South African Express

The South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) on Thursday suspended South African Express’s air operator certificate and maintenance approvals following the agency’s discovery of “serious non-noncompliance” of an unspecified nature during a safety audit. The authority has also suspended the certificates of airworthiness of nine of the airline’s 21 airplanes. The SACAA said it does not make details of its audit findings public, but that it found 17 cases of non-compliance, including five that it categorized as Level 1 findings. The airline’s fleet includes 10 Bombardier Q400 turboprops, two CRJ700s, seven CRJ200s, one CRJ100, and a single Embraer ERJ-145.

The SACAA describes a Level 1 category finding as “a severe non-compliance or non-conformance that poses a very serious safety or security risk to the public and will necessitate the immediate exercising of the discretionary enforcement powers.”

Therefore, said the authority, it found the airline’s safety management system deficient, making its grounding “inevitable.”

“As the custodian of aviation safety and security in the country, the SACAA cannot turn a blind eye to any operation where there is overwhelming evidence that safety measures are compromised, because that automatically poses serious danger for the crew, passengers, and the public at large,” said SACAA director Poppy Khoza. “The SACAA is fully aware and regrets the inconvenience and disruption this decision would have on passengers; however, it is equally important to note that decisions to revoke licences are naturally challenging, but are necessary and in the interests of ensuring that the operator’s safety systems are beyond reproach and that its aircraft can take off and land at the intended destinations relatively safely and incident-free.”

Following the grounding, the SACAA said it expected the operator to make arrangements with authorities to fly all affected aircraft back to the airline's home base.