CPT pax to St Helena re-routed via Joburg

AIRLINK passengers
wishing to travel from
Cape Town to St Helena
will temporarily need to be rerouted
via Johannesburg.
An SA Airlink aircraft on
its way to St Helena was
temporarily grounded by the
Namibia Civil Aviation Authority
at Hosea Kutako International
Airport on October 21.
SA Airlink ceo Rodger Foster
explains the Embraer EJet
190 aircraft was delayed by
Air Traffic Control at Windhoek
during a stopover. He says:
“The Namibian Authorities
scrutinised the flight
paperwork, and in particular
queried whether Airlink
holds the traffic rights for
transferring its own “online”
passengers in transit off its
Cape Town flight on which
Airlink passengers were
ticketed from Cape Town to St
Helena.” Online passengers
refers to passengers carried
by Airlink.
Once the authorities were
satisfied that the transferring
Airlink passengers remained
in transit, Rodger explains the
flight was allowed to continue.
But Rodger says the Namibian
Authority was not happy about
the practice of transferring
“online” passengers in transit,
noting that this amounts to
traffic rights that Airlink does
not have.
Says Rodger: “Airlink had not
been aware that the modus
operandi was not compliant
with Namibian regulations,
and has engaged both the
South African and Namibian
Authorities in order to resolve
the situation.”
In the interim, Rodger says
Airlink’s stopover in Windhoek
will not entail transferring
online Transit customers
travelling between Cape
Town and St Helena. Airlink’s
customers travelling between
Cape Town and St Helena
will instead be re-routed via
Johannesburg for the short
term.