Any plans that might have been afoot to welcome the Russian airline Nordwind to South Africa amid sanctions on Russia by the EU and the US, appear to have been shelved.
According to ch-aviation, the Russian Ministry of Transport has denied any such plans for Russian carriers to operate flights to South Africa, or for that matter, to Ethiopia or Malaysia.
Travel News carried the news in January this year that talks between the Russian and South African governments had reportedly taken place regarding direct services between Russia and South Africa on Russian carrier Nordwind. The objective of the talks was 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 gave this information at the time to Russian state-owned newswire, Sputnik.
Russia's Ambassador-at-large and head of the Russia-Africa partnership forum, Oleg Ozerov, confirmed the discussions at the time, saying the aim was to launch them before the 2023 Russia-Africa summit in St Petersburg in July.
"If respective requests are received from Russian carriers they will be considered shortly," a South African Transport Ministry source told the news agency, Tass, But as at the end of March, South Africa’s regulatory bodies had not yet received any requests from Russian airlines for direct flights between the two countries.
The Russian denial of any intention to put on flights to South Africa might have saved the South African Government some embarrassment. Nordwind and other Russian carriers were, and still are subject to US and European sanctions relating to Russia's war on Ukraine. Nordwind, with its Western-built fleet of Airbus and Boeing aircraft, would not have access to legitimate spare parts, nor safety-critical maintenance.This would disqualify them from being allowed to fly to South Africa under ICAO safety regulations. South Africa is a member of ICAO.
