Talks between the Russian and South African governments have reportedly taken place regarding direct services between Russia and South Africa on Russian carrier Nordwind.
The objective of the talks is to launch four non-stop flights a week between Moscow and Johannesburg and one to Cape Town, according to South Africa's Ambassador to Russia, Mzuvukile Jeff Maqetuka, who spoke to Russian state-owned newswire, Sputnik.
Oleg Ozerov, Russia's Ambassador-at-large and head of the Russia-Africa partnership forum, confirmed discussions to establish the direct flights, with the aim of launching them before the 2023 Russia-Africa summit in St Petersburg in July.
The tabled service, even before inception, is beset with controversy.
A report in respected international online aviation news forum, ch-aviation, notes that Nordwind and other Russian carriers are currently subject to US and European sanctions relating to Russia's war on Ukraine. This means Nordwind has no access to spare parts, equipment, data nor any aspect of safety-critical maintenance to its Western-built fleet of aircraft, and thus will not be allowed to fly to South Africa under ICAO safety regulations. South Africa is a member of ICAO.
Nordwind currently has a fleet of Western-built aircraft, a mix of Boeing and Airbus equipment, all under lease. Western aircraft under leases were seized by the Russian government in retaliation for the sanctions - the ch-aviation report notes that Nordwind regularly conducts long-haul flights with seized leased A330-200s, A330-300s, B777-200(ER)s, and B777-300(ER)s – operating despite the unavailability of legitimate parts or maintenance.
South Africa's International Air Services Council told ch-aviation that Nordwind had yet to submit an application for a foreign operator's permit.
