After a five day suspension, the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) has reinstated the Air Operator Certificate (AOC) of Comair, which operates British Airways and Kulula.com.
The regulator announced that it had completed the assessment and evaluation of Comair’s evidence to close the Level 1 findings raised during the audit which began on March 7.
The evaluation officially concluded on 16 March.
“The evaluation of the evidence was concluded on the evening of 16 March 2022. The impact of this outcome paves the way for the Director of Civil Aviation to uplift the Air Operator Certificate (AOC) of Comair with immediate effect,” the regulator said in statement.
The audit of Comair by SACAA comes on the back of a series of occurrences that posed “safety risks” by kulula.com and BA Comair airlines.
“The inspection was also aimed at reviewing Comair’s safety management systems (SMS) and quality control management system (QA) to establish compliance related to the reporting, analysis and follow-up on occurrences, and corrective action plans to prevent recurrence,” the statement continued.
It appears to be sweet relief for Comair CEO, Glen Orsmond, who noted: “We’re pleased that the situation is finally resolved, following an immense effort over five days and nights to engage and work with the SACAA. After a thorough review of Comair’s documentation, the SACAA has lifted the precautionary suspension of Comair’s licence. Our focus is now to get our operations back to normal as quickly as possible so we can further assist our customers.”
Flights via the respective carriers will be reinstated on Thursday morning, 17 March, but the schedules will be restored in a phased manner. Customers are advised to double-check their schedules on the airlines’ websites before heading to the airport.
“The past four days have demonstrated the implications of having so much capacity removed from the market at such short notice. Having Comair’s operational capability restored is good news for our customers, our employees, the flying public and the sector.” concluded Orsmond.
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