Contagion from the Zimbabwe flyafrica (Harare International) fiasco has spread to Namibia where the Namibian Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) has now grounded Namibia flyafrica (Windhoek International) for using ineligible aircraft.
In a statement issued November 5, the DCA said its decision was premised on Namibia flyafrica wet-leasing B737-500s from its Zimbabwean sister carrier despite the latter's Air Operators Certificate (AOC) having been suspended late last month.
"The DCA has now also received official communications from the civil aviation authorities in South Africa and Zimbabwe regarding the operations of FlyAfrica," the DCA said. "In fact, Bay Air Aviation’s partner in Zimbabwe which enabled their Namibian operations have had their Air Operators Certificate suspended by that country’s civil aviation authority. Despite this development FlyAfrica continued, without consulting the DCA beforehand, with flights utilising planes not authorised by the Namibia DCA."
The carrier has since been forced to suspend operations until the DCA has successfully completed a re-validation mission and given it the greenlight to resume commercial services.
flyafrica has issued a statement in which it alludes to resuming operations from Thursday, November 19 though this is still subject to the outcome of a court case in Harare. flyafrica says it is in talks with the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ) to reinstate its AOC, surrendered in late October by local shareholder and now former CEO, Chakanyuka Karase. flyafrica Ltd has also filed serious fraud and theft charges totalling more than USD140,000 against an unspecified member of the Karase family.
"Unfortunately we are still waiting for court rulings and are working with Namibian and Zimbabwean civil aviation authorities to resolve the matter," the LCC said in an official statement. "The length of wait is uncertain and we are advised it can take between 1 to 5 days for a decision to be reached, currently we are at day 4 of the process. We acknowledge that judicial processes take time and we kindly ask our loyal passengers to have patience as we let the judicial process run its course."
