Two hundred South African Airways (SAA) passengers stranded in Senegal will arrive back in the country on Saturday, the airline said on Friday.
Their SAA 204 flight experienced technical problems, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported on Friday. The incident occurred on Thursday when the Airbus failed to take off from its scheduled stop-over in Dakar.
The passengers were left stranded and complaining about a lack of clear information from the airline regarding developments.
SABC said the passengers were told there were difficulties with the aircraft, and it had to wait for spares from Johannesburg.
On Friday, they were still in Dakar and were told they would spend another day there.
Chris Smyth, SAA general manager of operations, said a technical fault with the electronic rudder was identified. For the aircraft to operate safely, a spare part had to be sent from Johannesburg.
”The spare part is on its way to Dakar from Johannesburg on SAA’s scheduled flight to Libreville this [Friday] evening,” Smyth said. ”The affected flight will depart Dakar for Johannesburg as SA9204 later in the evening and arrive on Saturday November 10.”
Smyth said all passengers on board the aircraft were accommodated in hotels in Dakar.
SAA said its technical team was working hard to resolve the problem. — Sapa