The Independent Democrats has accused airport check-in staff and baggage handlers of corruption and endangering flight safety.
Simon Grindrod, the party’s deputy leader and a member of Cape Town’s mayoral executive committee, said that check-in staff are accepting bribes not to charge for excess baggage.
”The weight of this baggage is then not recorded, causing dangerous levels of overloading, especially on full flights,” Grindrod said on Tuesday.
He explained: ”A passenger on an international flight will often return with more than double the prescribed weight of between 25kg and 30kg in baggage.
”This will often result in expensive penalty charges for excess baggage in order to deter passengers from exceeding the specified take-off operational weight of the plane. However, in many cases, a member of check-in staff will accept a smaller cash amount and simply not record the actual excess weight.
”This baggage is then loaded on to the plane with the collusion of baggage-handling staff.”
Grindrod called on the Civil Aviation Authority to investigate the allegations. He warned that the corruption could eventually cause an airline disaster. — I-Net Bridge