SAA has released a statement rejecting media reports of the use of fake parts in its aircraft.
South African Airways, SAA Technical and Mango Airlines are being investigated by the South African Civil Aviation Authority following an emergency where a Mango aircraft had to turnback.
The flight experienced technical difficulties caused by a faulty component. The component, a stabiliser trim motor, failed during take-off which required the crew to assume manual flight control. No passengers or crew were harmed and the aircraft landed safely.
The event was reported to SACAA and feedback is still due from the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of Boeing 737-800 aircraft.
The airlines have responded to ensuing reports alleging the use of fake components.
A statement from the board of directors of SAA assured customers that all components and parts were procured from approved suppliers and all supporting documentation complied with SACAA requirements on components.
“The board of Directors of SAA wish to state categorically that the airline’s maintenance division SAAT did not and does not use fake parts when servicing aircraft belonging to Mango Airlines or any other airline it services.
“We are awaiting feedback from the OEM – to whom the failed component has been returned to establish the cause of the component failure. Mango and SAAT are providing the required assistance to the SACAA inprocessingtheir investigation.”
Mango Airlines released the following statement:
“At Mango Airlines safety always comes first and that’s why we take these allegations very seriously. We can assure all our guests that we work tirelessly to secure the safety of everyone on-board our aircraft. Daily oversight is provided by us at SAA Technical to provide additional confidence in the adherence to our very strict safety standards.
We’d like to reiterate that there is currently no confirmed connection between the incident on 2 September 2019 and the allegations made in the Sunday Times article on Sunday. We have also engaged with SAA Technical in order to get explanations for the allegations metedagainst them.”
Mango has launched its own internal investigation and plans to release an update in the days to come.
