Have not read anything here yet... But I have heard that SA Express has had their AOC withdrawn, and 9 planes grounded amid maintenance deficiencies. What a pity really - the sticky fingers reach quite far apparently...
Link

https://mg.co.za/article/2018-05-24-sa- ... from-today

Tragic. Incompetence and sticky fingers are a lethal combination. Imagine if one of those planes which experienced "technical difficulties" had crashed ...

Airlink, on the other hand, is doing well but it is privately owned. Makes you think, doesn't it.

Looks like on 11th May CRJ2 ZS-NMJ suffered abnormal engine indications out of Cape Town and CRJ7 ZS-NBG an engine failure out of East London

Flown them a few times (CPT-PLE) and always struck me as nice outfit. Feel sorry for the good guys and girls who will loose their jobs thanks to the sticky fingers of a few

Jeez, their crew were really professional and friendly when we flew them in late April CPT-PLZ on a Q400. The tentacles of the Gupta graft truly know no limits...

Great crew, upfront and in the cabins, flew with them many times - but the cabins were appalling, flights routinely delayed and professionalism lacked very evidently at the headquarters.

Hope they manage to sort their issues out soon.

Alot of secondary cities and routes will have lost their only service and it will not be easy for someone to step in quick

northsouthnomad wrote:

Alot of secondary cities and routes will have lost their only service and it will not be easy for someone to step in quick

They've already downsized quite significantly over the last few years.

That said, Cape Town to Port Elizabeth is well covered by Comair and Safair, Cape Town to Bloemfontein and Durban by Mango, East London by Safair, Walvis Bay by Air Namibia. Hoedspruit and Pilanesberg were once daily and 3x weekly are not covered by anyone else.

Johannesburg to Bloemfontein is covered by Cemair, East London by SAA mainline, Comair and Safair, Gaborone by Air Botswana, George by Comair, Mango and Safair, Hoedspruit by Cemair, Kimberley by Airlink, Port Elizabeth by SAA mainline, Comair, Mango and Safair, Walvis Bay by Westair. Lumbumbashi, Pilanesberg and Richards Bay are not covered by anyone else.

Durban to Port Elizabeth is covered by Comair and Safair, while East London by Safair.

The network is mostly covered by other carriers.

On SAFM this morning a CAA rep said SA Express would only have its AOC reinstated following thorough inspection of each of its aircraft (not just the nine grounded) so don't expect SA Express back in the air anytime soon.

Might, Airlink, the other major regional carrier in South Africa, take up any of the routes or aircraft? This is something that could take months to fix.

I was supposed to be on SA Express in just under 2 weeks time! Flights were Cape Town to Hoedspruit round trip. I noticed Cemair flies the same route nonstop and I'm really thinking I need to just book flights on them and worry about getting a refund later. This flight is part of our honeymoon and we are doing a safari out near Hoedspruit. I called the SAA 1-800 number for the US and they said I had to contact SAA direct in South Africa.
Sent a couple emails to start but haven't heard back. Will try to call them direct shortly. Anyone suggest something else? HELP!!!

OPS

mattya9, try giving the local number a call +27 11 978 6699. For those that have sold their souls to Twatter and Facebore:

Twitter account @flysaexpress (#flyexpress)
Facebook page www.facebook.com/flysaexpress

mattya9 wrote:

I was supposed to be on SA Express in just under 2 weeks time! Flights were Cape Town to Hoedspruit round trip. I noticed Cemair flies the same route nonstop and I'm really thinking I need to just book flights on them and worry about getting a refund later. This flight is part of our honeymoon and we are doing a safari out near Hoedspruit. I called the SAA 1-800 number for the US and they said I had to contact SAA direct in South Africa.
Sent a couple emails to start but haven't heard back. Will try to call them direct shortly. Anyone suggest something else? HELP!!!

Airlink have already replaced SA Express on CPT-HDS as of this morning. No doubt you'll receive a schedule change shortly

aemoreira1981 wrote:

Might, Airlink, the other major regional carrier in South Africa, take up any of the routes or aircraft? This is something that could take months to fix.

SAA, Airlink and Mango have already replaced a lot, if not most, of SAX's capacity as of this morning, all on the SA code.

evanb wrote:

mattya9 wrote:

I was supposed to be on SA Express in just under 2 weeks time! Flights were Cape Town to Hoedspruit round trip. I noticed Cemair flies the same route nonstop and I'm really thinking I need to just book flights on them and worry about getting a refund later. This flight is part of our honeymoon and we are doing a safari out near Hoedspruit. I called the SAA 1-800 number for the US and they said I had to contact SAA direct in South Africa.
Sent a couple emails to start but haven't heard back. Will try to call them direct shortly. Anyone suggest something else? HELP!!!

Airlink have already replaced SA Express on CPT-HDS as of this morning. No doubt you'll receive a schedule change shortly

Thank you very much for the heads up!

evanb wrote:

northsouthnomad wrote:

Alot of secondary cities and routes will have lost their only service and it will not be easy for someone to step in quick

They've already downsized quite significantly over the last few years.

That said, Cape Town to Port Elizabeth is well covered by Comair and Safair, Cape Town to Bloemfontein and Durban by Mango, East London by Safair, Walvis Bay by Air Namibia. Hoedspruit and Pilanesberg were once daily and 3x weekly are not covered by anyone else.

Johannesburg to Bloemfontein is covered by Cemair, East London by SAA mainline, Comair and Safair, Gaborone by Air Botswana, George by Comair, Mango and Safair, Hoedspruit by Cemair, Kimberley by Airlink, Port Elizabeth by SAA mainline, Comair, Mango and Safair, Walvis Bay by Westair. Lumbumbashi, Pilanesberg and Richards Bay are not covered by anyone else.

Durban to Port Elizabeth is covered by Comair and Safair, while East London by Safair.

The network is mostly covered by other carriers.

But most of the coverage is very weak. SAX operated multiple daily flights to East London and PE from Durban at times for business travellers. Safari is one daily flight in the middle of the day. Hardly useful.

Same for many of the flights from Johannesburg. To say the other airlines have it covered is not a true reflection.

northsouthnomad wrote:

But most of the coverage is very weak. SAX operated multiple daily flights to East London and PE from Durban at times for business travellers. Safari is one daily flight in the middle of the day. Hardly useful.

Same for many of the flights from Johannesburg. To say the other airlines have it covered is not a true reflection.

You're picking and choosing, quite poorly. They've managed to reaccommodated passengers on other carriers or on SAA, Mango and Airlink increased capacity. Only the following routes have not been reaccommodated Johannesburg-Pilansberg, Cape Tow-Pilansberg, Johannesburg-Mahikeng.

DUR-PLZ, SAX had up to 3 to 4 daily flights on a CRJ, that's 150 to 200 seats per day. Safair had one daily B734 and Comair one daily B738 (a hour later than the first SAX departure), that's 354 seats per day. SAA, Airlink and Mango have chosen not to replace the capacity here - not enough business traffic it seems to replace the early morning departures.

DUR-ELS, Airlink has already replaced all of SAX's capacity as of Friday. Timetable is pretty similar.