Holidaymakers turned into frustrated passengers after 1Time flight IT901 to Zanzibar was ”cancelled indefinitely” at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg on Monday morning.
According to passengers, they waited from 9am until 4.30pm with no knowledge of whether they would be departing.
Passengers who were supposed to arrive from Zanzibar were left stranded on the island, as the same aircraft was supposed to bring them back to Johannesburg at 5pm.
”This is ridiculous, what are we going to do when the 2010 Soccer World Cup comes? If you go to the information desk, they do absolutely nothing to help you — I have come from Northcliff to fetch people and don’t know what to do,” said Winton Woodrooffe.
A passenger travelling to Zanzibar, who did not want to be named, said he waited for hours, with no knowledge of what the status of the flight.
”We are frustrated and angry at the way things were handled today … The airport authorities were rude and asked us to behave, and to make matters worse, they called police to watch us as if we were going to start a riot,” said the passenger.
He said that after boarding at 9am, he had to wait for two hours, after being told there was something wrong with the baggage conveyer belt. They were then told they had to get off the aircraft.
”Passengers exited the plane and went back to the airport. They told us that our flight would leave at 1.15pm. We boarded a bus at 1pm to take us back to the plane. Midway through our journey, we were then taken back to the airport after we were told the plane was experiencing technical difficulties,” the passenger said.
Tasneem Patel, spokesperson for the Airports Company of South Africa, said there were problems with baggage conveyor belts at the airport.
”I can confirm that we did have problems with the belt … but it has been fixed since this morning,” Patel said.
Equity Aviation Services, who were responsible for 1Times’s technical support, were not available for comment. – Sapa