Embattled state-owned Airlink has decided to permanently cancel a number of its routes, Beeld newspaper reported on Tuesday.
The routes between George and Bloemfontein, Port Elizabeth to East London, Port Elizabeth to Bloemfontein and Nelspruit to Livingstone, Zambia will be permanently scrapped.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) barred 13 of its Jetstream 41 planes from further service on December 23 last year, after two incidents earlier believed to have resulted from the same problem
with a seal in the engines.
It has since become clear an incident in Durban was caused by human error.
The other incident at Nelspruit was caused by a lack of oil pressure.
The suspension of the planes has prompted Airlink to hire alternative aircraft.
“I will not give up. The events of the past three weeks have only forced us to speed up the process of rebuilding and revamping, which would otherwise have taken place only far into the future,” said Airlink chief executive Rodger Foster on Monday.
The first two of four additional Embraer 135 planes will depart from the US on Friday, while the other two will arrive in South Africa before the end of the month.
The CAA released one of the Jetstreams for service on Friday, after an intensive investigation.
“We still have a long way to go to restore passengers’ faith in Airlink. I can, however, give the assurance that the CAA will not release a single plane if it isn’t 100% safe,” said Foster. – Sapa