SA Express grounded for breaking rules on safety
Nine of the carrier's 21 aircraft have had their certificates of airworthiness withdrawn
The South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) has grounded the state-owned carrier SA Express with immediate effect, says the government agency. SACAA has also suspended certificates of airworthiness for nine of 21 of SA Express’s aircraft. It means the carrier can no longer operate as an airline. The agency said on Thursday SA Express would have to reapply and be issued with an air operating certificate and an approval for the aircraft maintenance organisation and certificates of airworthiness for the grounded aircraft This comes on the same day as Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan announced he had appointed a new board at the carrier after the suspension of several executive managers on allegations of corruption. An audit found, among other irregularities, that SA Express paid R5.7m to the Gupta-linked Trillian Capital for advisory services and to raise capital. Gordhan said the SACAA’s grounding of the airline was a classic example of the effect of corruption and ma...
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