Lufthansa Technik Maintenance International (LTMI) has resumed line maintenance services for Comair (South Africa) (CAW, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo) after the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) lifted the suspension of its air maintenance organisation (AMO) license.
The Lufthansa Technik subsidiary said in a statement: "Lufthansa Technik Maintenance International (LTMI) has been informed by SACAA on Sunday, that the submitted final resolution proposals for the two outstanding findings were accepted and that LTMI’s suspension of privileges was lifted.
"In subsequent discussions with Comair, which operates both British Airways (operated by Comair) and Kulula Air (Johannesburg O.R. Tambo) in Southern Africa, it was agreed that the suspended LTMI services would resume during the course of yesterday evening. This has been done and LTMI is again providing Comair with line maintenance services."
Comair Chief Executive Officer Glenn Orsmond confirmed LTMI's statement, as did SACAA spokeswoman Phindiwe Gwebu.
Procedural issues saw the indefinite suspension of LTMI's AMO on March 24 after the regulator had imposed a similar five-day suspension of Comair's Air Operator's Certificate (AOC), citing safety concerns following a spate of incidents in February 2022. LTMI, along with SAA Technical, is responsible for maintaining Comair's fleet, which comprises seventeen B737-800s, five B737-400s and one B737-500, according to the ch-aviation fleets module.
"As a result of the findings, LTMI has optimised its internal quality management processes to avoid similar deficiencies in the future," an LTMI spokesman said.
LTMI's suspension had followed an unscheduled four-day audit of its quality control management system and safety management systems to establish legislative compliance related to reporting, analysis, and follow-up of occurrences, and corrective action plans to prevent a recurrence. "The SACAA found that the AMO had both a quality management system and safety management system in place; however, both were not implemented as per the Civil Aviation Regulations (CARs) and the requisite manuals," it said.
