SOUTH AFRICA: Safair Deplaned After Foetus Is Found In Toilet

A ZULULAND family reported from King Shaka International Airport in Durban this morning that their daughter’s FlySafair flight was cancelled after airline cleaning staff found a fetus in a toilet cistern on board the aircraft.

Their daughter was traveling alone from Durban to Johannesburg’s OR Thambo Airport on the 6.10am flight.

We saw her off safely and she boarded the plane, after which we left her gate to check in to our flight, said Wayne Viviers of Mtunzini.

While we were checking in to our international flight we saw her walking back towards the FlySafair offices.

She explained that shortly before take-off the pilot came over the intercom to announce that a foetus had been found in the toilet cistern, and that the plane was now a crime scene,.

All the passengers deplaned and were rerouted onto other flights.

She said that the passengers were all very shocked at the news

FlySafair is a low-cost airline based in Johannesburg, South Africa. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Safair.

The airline was established in August 2013 and was granted approval by the South African Air Service Licensing Council to launch operations with ten daily services between Johannesburg's OR Tambo International Airport and Cape Town International Airport.

The airline had plans to begin operations in October 2013.

However, on 8 October 2013, the High Court of South Africa granted an interim court order preventing the airline from starting operations, following an application by rival carriers, on the basis that it did not meet the legal requirement of 75% local ownership.

Substantial restructuring of ownership took place and FlySafair's inaugural flight eventually took place on 16 October 2014

On 29 March 2017, the airline announced its new partnership with the South African Rugby Union (SARU) making it the official domestic carrier for the Springboks and SA Rugby.

FlySafair serves the following domestic destinations:

Cape Town – Cape Town International Airport

Durban – King Shaka International Airport

East London – East London Airport

George – George Airport

Johannesburg – OR Tambo International Airport

Johannesburg – Lanseria International Airport

Port Elizabeth – Port Elizabeth Airport


FlySafair Interlines with the following airlines:

Air France
KLM
Condor Flugdienst
Thomas Cook Airlines

FlySafair offers food and drinks as a buy-on-board programme. FlySafair also offers a monthly magazine on board named In Flight. The airline was also the first airline in South Africa to offer card payments aboard their flights.

In April 2017 FlySafair was awarded for being the number one most punctual airline globally, with a 96% on-time performance (OTP) by OAG, an air travel intelligence company.

FlySafair qualified as they were able to provide flight status information for a minimum of 80%, which are calculated over a 12-month period and include airlines and airports with a minimum of 600 operations a month.

On 16 October 2017, it was announced that the airline had won the award for The World's Most On Time Airline by OAG for the second year.

On 16 November 2018, The South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) named FlySafair the Aircraft Operator of the Year in its South African Civil Aviation Excellence Awards. At the same ceremony, FlySafair also took second place in the Aviation Customer Services category, and was a finalist in the Aviation Safety category.

As of March 2019, the FlySafair fleet consists of the following all Boeing aircraft:

8 Boeing 737–400

6 Boeing 737–800

Total 14


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SOUTH AFRICA: FlySafair Passenger Thrown Off Flight For Racial Abuse

THIS is the moment a white man and his girlfriend are kicked off a plane after being accused of racism by black passengers.

The South African couple are seen being asked to leave the Flysafair plane, which was about to fly from Johannesburg to Port Elizabeth, to the cheers of those around them.

A video of shot by another passenger shows the captain standing in the aisle listening as several passengers give their versions of what happened.

One woman claims the white man called a black passenger an “a**ehole” before directing what she alleges was a racist comment at her.

And she says the man threatened to punch one of the passengers – which he strongly denies.

She tells the pilot: “He called this gentleman an a**ehole and when we proceeded to say to him that’s unacceptable he said to me, ‘You people are all the same’.

“Sir, you are legally obligated to keep us safe. I do not feel safe going into the air with this kind of aggression.”

Backed up by other passengers, she goes on to claim he said “I’ll bliksem you” – a South African term meaning to punch or strike.

The man denies the accusations but eventually stands up and agrees to leave the aircraft – to applause from other passengers.

He says said: “We will get out of the way, thank you very much. We will get off the plane – but I want his name and I want his name and I want his name.”

The footage was shot last week but came to light after the United Airlines incident.

The airline said they were waiting to see if any investigation would be launched into the incident.

FlySafair spokesperson Kirby Gordon praised the pilot saying he had been following Civil Aviation Safety procedures.

He said: “We are aware of an altercation that took place between two passengers on flight FA232 on Friday, April 7.

“We are awaiting approach from the authorities to provide any required information that would be required to resolve this case.

“It is the obligation of the Captain of an aircraft to make the final call regarding his view on any potential threats on board the aircraft.

“In accordance with this, we would like to commend the Captain for following Civil Aviation Safety procedures. Safety is, and will always remain our primary concern.”

Air safety and how passengers are being treated both by airlines and fellow passengers is a hot topic right now – the latest United Airlines issue being a major case in point.

A recent local incident has just surfaced as South Africa’s low-cost airline, Flysafair was forced to remove a passenger after alleged racist threats were made on a flight boarding for departure to Port Elizabeth on Friday, 7 April.

Footage shared on Twitter shows a couple addressing one of the cabin crew with their complaint about a fellow passenger sitting across the aisle from them.

The man had allegedly insulted another passenger by calling him an “asshole” and threatening violence, only to then reference further implied racism by saying “you people are all the same”, when the couple who had lodged the complaint told him his behaviour was unacceptable.

The couple have since been identified as Nthabi and Sanele Sibanda, a Wits University professor, according to a twitter user Jacqueline Rainers who retweeted the video saying the Sibanda’s are her relatives.

FlySafair spokesperson Kirby Gordon confirmed the airline is aware of the incident and that FlySafair is fully prepared to co-operate with the investigation by authorities as required.

“We are aware of an altercation that took place between two passengers on flight FA232 on Friday 7 April and we are awaiting approach from the authorities to provide any required information that would be required to resolve this case,” says the airline.

“It is the obligation of the Captain of an aircraft to make the final call regarding his view on any potential threats on board the aircraft.

“In accordance with this, we would like to commend the Captain for following Civil Aviation Safety procedures. Safety is, and will always remain our primary concern.”

Youtuber, Sibu Mpanza also shared footage of the incident, with comments adding to the debate around the incident.

One user, Nicci Gericke wrote “Ah I never saw this but this was amazingly well handled. I would’ve kicked him off too if I had the power. Good for the people who stood up against that guy. Sis. They’re making us whiteys look bad.”

Also another user, Dirty Casual, says that the passenger accused of racist comments in the video “was 100% in the wrong”.

“I’ll be the odd one out then (White guy) and say that the white man in the video was 100% in the wrong. We don’t really know what happened before the video started to make him that aggravated but that gets thrown out once he refers to the person race. The fact that people also clapped him off the plane suggest he might have been the instigator at the start. So props for the people and the captain/co-pilot on the plane for handling the situation that well.”

Lufthansa Technick’s Total Supports Safair

The South African carrier Safair has contracted Lufthansa Technik to provide comprehensive component support. The corresponding Total Component Support TCS® contract covers component maintenance, repair, overhaul as well as access to an adequate pool of spares. Effective from 1 April the contract comprises the support for up to five Boeing 737 Next Generation aircraft operated by Safair’s low-cost airline FlySafair.

With this contract, Lufthansa Technik further strengthens its presence in the African market where airlines such as Kenya Airways, RwandAir, South African Airways and SA Express are already relying on Lufthansa Technik’s wide-ranging services.

Lufthansa Technik Total Component Support TCS® is the perfect solution for operators that want optimal component availability without the task of setting up and maintaining their own spare parts inventories. Customers benefit from a unique pooling concept: Lufthansa Technik stocks more than 100,000 components and guarantees 100 percent reliable delivery at a pre-determined service level. Members of the Lufthansa Technik TCS® pool also benefit from reductions in operating costs through economies of scale.

The low-cost South African airline FlySafair began operations in 2014, serving six domestic destinations from the airline’s hub in Johannesburg.

SOUTH AFRICA: FlySafair, Skywise And Fly Blue Crane Face Challenging Future

On 1 September, Fly Blue Crane became the third new carrier in the last 12 months to launch service in the South African domestic market. The ERJ 145 operator joins FlySafair and Skywise in attempting to break the virtual duopoly in the domestic market. South African Airways and its low-cost subsidiary Mango, along with Comair’s British Airways franchise flights and its own low-cost kulula.com operation currently dominate the domestic scene.

With a population of around 55 million people (around 10% fewer than Italy) and covering an area about three times the size of Japan, South Africa’s airports only handled 35.2 million passengers in 2014, according to ACSA (Airports Company of South Africa). The country’s three main international airports in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban account for over 90% of that traffic. After double-digit growth between 2005 and 2007, passenger numbers fell in 2008, 2009, 2012 and 2013, but grew in 2010, 2011 and 2014. Data from ACSA reveals that in each of the first six months of 2015 total passengers across the country’s three main airports has grown by 3.9%, as a result of which demand has now grown in 11 of the last 12 months, the exception being September 2014.

Domestic market up 11%, UAE capacity up 25%
Analysis of OAG schedule data for September 2015 and September 2014 reveals that seat capacity is up just over 8%. Domestic routes account for around 70% of departing seat capacity across the country’s airports, and the total number of domestic seats is up almost 11%, partly due to the emergence of new carriers FlySafair (which launched in October 2014) and Skywise (which launched on 5 March 2015). Another new domestic start-up, Fly Blue Crane, began operations at the beginning of September, but its schedule data is not yet showing up in OAG figures. All of these new carriers will be mindful of what happened to 1time and Velvet Sky among others.



Among the leading country markets, the UAE is now the leading international destination, and has seen seat capacity growth of 25% in the last 12 months, partly due to Emirates adding a fourth daily flight from Dubai to Johannesburg and South African Airways launching daily flights at the end of March 2015 from Johannesburg to Abu Dhabi. The route is already served by Etihad Airways with whom SAA is operating a codeshare on this new service.

Zimbabwe and Namibia have also seen capacity growth of over 20% in the last 12 months, while the leading European markets of UK and Germany have each grown by less than 3%. Two other leading long-haul markets, Australia and the US, have seen virtually no change in seat capacity.

SOUTH AFRICA: Fly Blue Crane 3rd Airline To Launch Flights In Domestic Market

On 1 September, Fly Blue Crane became the third new carrier in the last 12 months to launch service in the South African domestic market. The ERJ 145 operator joins FlySafair and Skywise in attempting to break the virtual duopoly in the domestic market. South African Airways and its low-cost subsidiary Mango, along with Comair’s British Airways franchise flights and its own low-cost kulula.com operation currently dominate the domestic scene.

With a population of around 55 million people (around 10% fewer than Italy) and covering an area about three times the size of Japan, South Africa’s airports only handled 35.2 million passengers in 2014, according to ACSA (Airports Company of South Africa). The country’s three main international airports in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban account for over 90% of that traffic. After double-digit growth between 2005 and 2007, passenger numbers fell in 2008, 2009, 2012 and 2013, but grew in 2010, 2011 and 2014. Data from ACSA reveals that in each of the first six months of 2015 total passengers across the country’s three main airports has grown by 3.9%, as a result of which demand has now grown in 11 of the last 12 months, the exception being September 2014.

Domestic market up 11%, UAE capacity up 25%
Analysis of OAG schedule data for September 2015 and September 2014 reveals that seat capacity is up just over 8%. Domestic routes account for around 70% of departing seat capacity across the country’s airports, and the total number of domestic seats is up almost 11%, partly due to the emergence of new carriers FlySafair (which launched in October 2014) and Skywise (which launched on 5 March 2015). Another new domestic start-up, Fly Blue Crane, began operations at the beginning of September, but its schedule data is not yet showing up in OAG figures. All of these new carriers will be mindful of what happened to 1time and Velvet Sky among others.

Among the leading country markets, the UAE is now the leading international destination, and has seen seat capacity growth of 25% in the last 12 months, partly due to Emirates adding a fourth daily flight from Dubai to Johannesburg and South African Airways launching daily flights at the end of March 2015 from Johannesburg to Abu Dhabi. The route is already served by Etihad Airways with whom SAA is operating a codeshare on this new service.

Zimbabwe and Namibia have also seen capacity growth of over 20% in the last 12 months, while the leading European markets of UK and Germany have each grown by less than 3%. Two other leading long-haul markets, Australia and the US, have seen virtually no change in seat capacity.

SOUTH AFRICA: FlySafair’s Cape Town to Johannesburg

FlySafair, the latest South African start-up, took to the skies with the launch of services on the 1,270-kilometre sector from Cape Town to Johannesburg, a route already served by South African Airways (127 weekly flights), British Airways (76), Comair (46) and Mango (43).

FlySafair, the latest start-up low-cost airline based in South Africa, launched its first operations on 16 October with 26 weekly flights from its Cape Town (CPT) hub to Johannesburg (JNB). The 1,270-kilometre sector, which is extensively served by South African Airways (127 weekly flights), British Airways (76), Comair (46) and Mango (43), will be flown by the carrier’s 165-seat 737-400s. The wholly owned subsidiary of Safair, will commence 12 weekly operations to Port Elizabeth on 30 October as well as daily flights to George on 13 November, both launched from its Cape Town hub.

SOUTH AFRICA: Skywise’s Commences Johannesburg to Cape Town Flights

Skywise celebrated the launch of its first operations at Johannesburg Airport, with the addition of twice-daily flights to Cape Town
Skywise, the South African carrier that was founded in 2012 before suffering from numerous licencing issues, finally commenced first operations on 5 March, adding flights from Johannesburg (JNB) to Cape Town (CPT).

Even though this route is extensively competed, with flights offered by South African Airways (126 times weekly), Comair (122), Mango Airlines (43) and FlySafair (26), Skywise will operate twice-daily flights using its 737-300s.