Johannesburg - The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has grounded all Nationwide flights, the airline confirmed on Friday. Nationwide was notified by fax late on Thursday night that the CAA had revoked its aviation maintenance organisation licence, said the airline's sales and marketing manager Charmaine Thome.
"This has led to the grounding of aircraft," she said, adding: "We don't know where we stand at the moment." Thome said the airline had not been given a "solid reason" for the move.
Engine drama. It had not once been told it was linked to the drama at Cape Town International Airport on November 7 when an engine dropped off Nationwide flight CE723.
"We were cleared of that incident," said Thome.
The Johannesburg-bound Boeing 737 lost one of its two engines during take-off from Cape Town airport, yet managed to land safely half an hour later.
The airline said the engine had sucked in "an object" as the plane was taking off.
Following the incident, the CAA ordered a full inspection of all Boeing 737-200s.
Boeing 737-200s belonging to Comair and Kulula and SAA Cargo were later declared safe after engine mount inspections.
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NVDL: It may not be justified but even before this incident I had decided never to fly with Nationwide again. I'd had a cellphone stolen out of my bag and when I reported it, their attitude was: 'Ja, it happens all the time.' There was no sense of attempting to find the phone. Although this may be the case with other airlines, it's still a sorry set of standards. On the other hand, I think the service you get from Kulula.com is excellent. That's simply how it works: treat a customer with disdain and he or she will do the same to you.
