Following a routine inspection, The South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) has downgraded Richards Bay Airport from a Category 5 to a Category 2, halting all commercial passenger airline services taking off and landing at Richards Bay Airport, due to fire safety concerns.
According to reports by Travel News, the news first broke when a travel agent posted about her clients being stranded at Richards Bay Airport on Thursday, March 7, as flights were no longer operating.
A spokesperson from Airlink – the only airline that provides services to and from the local airport – confirmed that services had been halted on Friday, in a statement published by Travel News. He said:
“Airlink is obliged to cancel flights to Richards Bay until the CAA lifts the restrictions on the airport and confirms that the firefighting infrastructure is at the correct level. It’s not possible for the airline to say when the flights to Richards Bay will resume.”
The spokesperson advised that agents should contact the airline if they have ticketed passengers whose flights have been cancelled.
Until further notice, no passenger airline services will be permitted to take off or land at Richards Bay Airport. As per a statement issued by SACAA, the airport’s downgrade to a category 2 classification only grants permission for small aircraft.
“Under a category 2 classification, an aerodrome is not permitted to land commercial aircraft and is only granted permissions for small aircraft.”
Airlink MD, Rodger Foster, was quoted by MoneyWeb, as saying:
“The safety and wellbeing of our customers, crews and equipment is paramount for Airlink and we scrupulously follow the Sacaa’s safety regulations.”
As per SACAA’s statement, once Richards Bay Airport has submitted a plan to mitigate safety risks, an application for higher categorisation will be made available.
“The regulator will consider a higher aerodrome categorisation application as soon as [Richards Bay Airport] submits a corrective action plan that showcases compliance as well as the mitigation of safety risks that were identified at the airport.”
The article published by MoneyWeb further states that a damaged fire engine may be the culprit for the category downgrade. However, no official statements were released confirming this detail.
“Moneyweb understands that Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) has dispatched a replacement fire engine from OR Tambo Airport in Johannesburg, as the one at Richards Bay is in for repair. This should allow for a resumption of scheduled commercial services within a few days.”
