Freedom Air (South Africa) (FRI, Pretoria Wonderboom) has been forced to suspend its operations in Gabon pending the outcome of an investigation by the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA). Afrikaans daily, Beeld, says the carrier began operating scheduled services out of the Gabonese capital, Libreville Leon M'Ba, last month but was not properly authorized to sell airline tickets or to ferry passengers. SACAA said this would have posed serious problems to the disbursement of insurance claims in the event of an accident. A spokesman for the regulator said Freedom Air had been contracted to provide cover for Allegiance Airways Gabon (Libreville Leon M'Ba) whose lone aircraft, a B737-200Adv, wet-leased from Gryphon Airlines SA (GRF, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo), was undergoing maintenance.