AVIATION POLITICS
South Africa in talks with Russian airline over SA-Moscow flight route — Swiss journal
However, the plans are at risk because Nordwind Airlines is sanctioned by the US and the European Union, which has raised questions about the safety of its Boeing and Airbus fleets.
South Africa is talking to the Russian carrier Nordwind Airlines about launching direct flights from Moscow to Johannesburg and to Cape Town, according to a Swiss aviation journal.
But the plans are at risk because Nordwind is sanctioned by the US and the European Union, which has raised questions about the safety of its Boeing and Airbus fleets, according to the aviation industry publication ch-aviation.
The journal said late last month that South Africa’s ambassador to Russia, Mzuvukile Jeff Maqetuka, told the Russian state-owned news agency Sputnik that Pretoria was waiting for Nordwind’s decision on whether it intended to fly the SA route. Sputnik said he told them the aim was to launch four non-stop flights a week, including one to Cape Town to boost Russian tourism.
“Our transport department discussed Aeroflot flights with the Russian transport ministry, then we were informed that it had been decided that it would be Nordwind,” Maqetuka was quoted as telling ch-aviation.
The South African Department of Transport told Daily Maverick on Wednesday: “The National Department of Transport has not received any application from Nordwind to start a Russia-South Africa route. Should Nordwind submit such an application, normal processes would be followed.”
However, the department did not respond to the question of whether South Africa was still, or had been, in talks with Nordwind about launching the South African route. The SA Civil Aviation Authority and the Department of International Relations and Cooperation both referred all queries to the Department of Transport, which they said was the correct authority to issue licences for foreign airlines to fly into South Africa.
ch-aviation also reported that plans to establish direct flights from Russia to South Africa before the 2023 Russia-Africa Summit in St Petersburg in late July were disclosed by Oleg Ozerov, Russia’s ambassador-at-large and head of the Russia-Africa partnership forum. It said Sputnik and fellow Russian news agency Tass had both reported on this.
The journal said that before commencing the South African route, Nordwind or any other Russian operator would have to demonstrate to the South African Civil Aviation Authority that its aircraft were airworthy and being maintained to the latest service bulletins issued by manufacturers — in Nordwind’s case, Airbus and Boeing — and mandatory airworthiness directives published, in this case by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the US Federal Aviation Administration.
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The journal noted that EU and US sanctions targeting Russia because of its invasion of Ukraine prohibit the export of aircraft, spare parts and other safety-critical equipment to Russian airlines as well as the provision of technical support, including maintenance data, air navigation database updates and flight training.
“Nordwind is subject to the ban, meaning it does not have access to the latest maintenance revisions and, therefore, will not be allowed to fly to South Africa, a well-informed source at the regulator told ch-aviation.”
The journal said Nordwind was already operating its A330-200s, A330-300s, B777-200(ER)s, and B777-300(ER) on other routes in violation of the US and EU export bans to Russia of aircraft or spare parts.
“According to the US Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), Nordwind’s ‘violations have been significant, deliberate and covert’.
“[The] BIS has ordered companies and individuals in the US and abroad to ‘avoid dealing with Nordwind, in connection with export and re-export transactions involving items subject to the regulations and in connection with any other activity subject to the regulations’.
“In December 2022, the BIS said that Nordwind continued to fly aircraft into Russia in violation of the US export ban, including flights from Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt, and Bokhtar, Tajikistan.
“A Boeing spokesperson confirmed that the company in early 2022 had suspended providing parts, maintenance, and technical support for customers and maintenance service providers in Russia.
“An EASA spokesperson said the European regulator was ‘seriously concerned about the safety situation of the Western-built fleet in Russia’.
“In light of the ban on access to spare parts and maintenance support, the EASA had ‘serious safety concerns on how those aircraft are being maintained and how the pilots and the engineers are trained,’” ch-aviation said. DM
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Why is our government ignoring pretty much all of SA’s established trading partners so as to pander to those whom the rest of the world has condemned? For nothing less than War Crimes.
The ramifications are immense. Wake up, please wake up! No more nightmares, stop the grift!
“Shuttled between tourist spots, posing for pictures on beautiful beaches, and dancing awkwardly to merengue: Russian tourists have found a friendly holiday destination on a VENEZUELAN ISLAND far from the motherland and its war with Ukraine.” Dec 22 from News 24. Are we copying Venezuela now to entice the shunned skunk of the world. The name Sisulu was not mentioned.
Reality is,Anc Communist lala land utopia is progressing while stealing democracy money of citizens
I wonder if there will be enough cabinet members going for “medical treatment” to make the route viable? Perhaps they could stop over in Harare to pick up a few Zanu-PF politicians as well.
I am so tired of this double standard. So it is OK to fly to the US and to other NATO ‘western’ countries, but not to Russia. Because Russia bad, West good. The crimes done by the ‘West’ in just my lifetime completely and utterly overshadows anything Russia has done. From the invasion of Kuwait, the utter destruction of Iraq (twice), the destruction of Libya (‘we came, we saw, he died’… a la Hillary Clinton), the destruction of Afghanistan, the torture and rendition programs, the offshore penal colony in Guantanamo; and that is just off the top of my head. And not to speak of the countless meddling in other countries’ elections, overthrowing of governments, supporting of coups. The list goes on. Yet these actions are never described as evil, and the leaders that perpetrate them as evil. The hubris is astounding.
If you can fly to the US, or to your kids in Australia, you can fly to Russia.
Go! SA tourism
Haha all the more easy to reach their ill gotten gains! ( those ones not sitting in Dubai)
Ja well, if SA wants to be non-aligned (whether our government is, is being debated) then it can’t allow flights from the west but not from the east bloc. BUT our airline industry has always maintained very good safety standards, which I very much doubt the Russians did, and if the info in this article is accurate, the western sanctions and the destructive role it plays in the maintenance of the Russian-aligned companies (such as Nordwind) should definitely prevent such flights from becoming a reality.