NAMIBIA: FlyAfrica Namibia Grounded For Flying Ineligible Aircraft

Namibia flyafrica
Type Scheduled Carrier
Base Windhoek Int'l
Destinations 3
Routes 2
Daily Flights 4

Contagion from the Zimbabwe flyafrica (Z7, Harare Int'l) fiasco has spread to Namibia where the Namibian Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) has now grounded Namibia flyafrica (N6, Windhoek Int'l) for using ineligible aircraft.

In a statement issued November 5, the DCA said its decision was premised on Namibia flyafrica wet-leasing B737-500s from its Zimbabwean sister carrier despite the latter's Air Operators Certificate (AOC) having been suspended late last month.

"The DCA has now also received official communications from the civil aviation authorities in South Africa and Zimbabwe regarding the operations of FlyAfrica," the DCA said. "In fact, Bay Air Aviation’s partner in Zimbabwe which enabled their Namibian operations have had their Air Operators Certificate suspended by that country’s civil aviation authority. Despite this development FlyAfrica continued, without consulting the DCA beforehand, with flights utilising planes not authorised by the Namibia DCA."

The carrier has since been forced to suspend operations until the DCA has successfully completed a re-validation mission and given it the greenlight to resume commercial services.

flyafrica has issued a statement in which it alludes to resuming operations from Thursday, November 19 though this is still subject to the outcome of a court case in Harare. flyafrica says it is in talks with the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ) to reinstate its AOC, surrendered in late October by local shareholder and now former CEO, Chakanyuka Karase. flyafrica Ltd has also filed serious fraud and theft charges totalling more than USD140,000 against an unspecified member of the Karase family.

"Unfortunately we are still waiting for court rulings and are working with Namibian and Zimbabwean civil aviation authorities to resolve the matter," the LCC said in an official statement. "The length of wait is uncertain and we are advised it can take between 1 to 5 days for a decision to be reached, currently we are at day 4 of the process. We acknowledge that judicial processes take time and we kindly ask our loyal passengers to have patience as we let the judicial process run its course."

ZIMBABWE: Harare Court Upholds Suspension Of Zimbabwe Flyafrica's AOC

Zimbabwe flyafrica
Type Scheduled Carrier
Base Harare Int'l
Aircraft 2
Destinations 4
Routes 4
Daily Flights 8

Zimbabwe flyafrica (Z7, Harare Int'l) is to remain grounded until it has resolved all outstanding regulatory issues a Harare high court judge has said. The airline's Zimbabwean partner and former accountable manager/CEO, Chakanyuka Karase, surrendered its Air Operator Certificate (AOC) to the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ) after foreign partner flyafrica Ltd filed fraud charges against an undisclosed member of the Karase family. Pending the outcome of the court case, the airline had planned to resume flights late last week.

But, while Justice Amy Tsanga barred Chakanyuka Karase from interfering with the airline's business, she did order Zimbabwe flyafrica to address a number of irregularities uncovered during CAAZ's subsequent audit of its operations. CAAZ said that it was not suspending Zimbabwe flyafrica's operations as a result of Karase's intervention, but as a result of said irregularities.

In addition to lacking an accountable manager and a local head of maintenance, CAAZ found that even though the LCC was registered in Zimbabwe, substantive control of its operations lay in South Africa. Adding to that, both of the aircraft on its Zimbabwean AOC - two B737-500s - were actually based out of Johannesburg O.R. Tambo, CAAZ said. Other oversights included unsatisfactory maintenance manuals.

“There are directives from CAAZ that what the applicant needs to do is to put its house in order," The Herald quoted Justice Tsanga's ruling. "Local rules and regulations must be observed by applicant instead of crying foul against CAAZ knowing full well its house is not in order. Without attending to the issues, which also include managerial concerns, the suspension will not be uplifted."

Sister carrier Namibia flyafrica (N6, Windhoek Int'l) has also been forced to suspend operations given that it was wet-leasing a B737-500 from Zimbabwe flyafrica for its flights to South Africa. The Namibian Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) suspended the carrier's licence earlier this month after an investigation showed it had failed to inform the authority of Zimbabwe flyafrica's AOC revocation while continuing to operate its aircraft.