SA Airlink Grounded
 

Three incidents within 6 weeks and one fatality.

Federated Air will be handling flights to Mala Mala in the interim, which totally screws up my well honed itinerary for this trip.

We have a chance of catching their 9:15 which gets us into the bush early :D , or we'll end up on the 12:40, which means missing lunch and not much time to unpack before first game drive.

On the return we're catching the later flight because we don't want to miss a chunk of our last game drive.

Also if they have less than 5 people going to MM then they take you to Skukuza - but while that's a hassle, it's also a free game drive.

what were the incidents?

Yeah, what were the incidents.
I'd get the 9:15 flight. If you have to go at 12:40, I'm sure MM would make sandwiches for you on arrival.
What about a charter by General Airways, GenAir, cost might not be too much more. Does MM offer any advice?

regards - tom

Airlink has been grounded for quite a while - at least 2 weeks, if not longer.

I would also like to knwo about the incidents as www.iol.co.za didn't have anything on those.

THX.

SV ((@))

Tom
Fed air does transfers and it's only slighty more expensive.

Hi Matt

When I was there this happened and MM was chartering a flight in the place of the SAAirlink. Has this changed?
Kind regards
Kaye

Right now Fed Air is operating into MM, when there are 5 passengers (I'm guessing that's a flexible rule depending on where they are going with other passengers). Apparently the whole thing will be resolved by May with MM selecting a new carrier for regular flights, in the meantime Fed Air is picking up the slack.

Incidents - brakes failed on a plane bound for Nelspruit and so had to turn around and land at JNB - nice long runways!

Plane overshot runway at George (brakes?) and finished on the N2.
Durban (I believe) plane crashed, one fatality - the pilot - and several passengers injured.

It's costing me $180pp more than the SA Airlink flight, but originally I'd had a good deal.

As it is we're booked on the later flight, you'd hate to miss the early one and find the later one booked. If VS601 is on time, we should make the early flight with time to spare, if not, I'll pay our driver to take us birding :D

The return is more annoying, we usually have a good long afternoon at the Sun, take a nap, exercise, have lunch, shower and change then head over for the flight. The timing now means the cost per hour is a bit silly, but better than 5 hours in the airport.

Some planes are now flying, following checks by the SA aviation authorities.

The problems arise as a result of faults in the engines in these Lear Jets supplied by General Electric, these problems had been raised by the airline but ignored by the manufacturers.

Here is the excerpts from MM website also stating the difference in the fares between SAAirlink/Fed air:


TERMINATION OF AIRLINK FLIGHTS INTO MALAMALA GAME RESERVE.

All of Airlink’s 29-seater Jetstream 41 turboprop aircraft were grounded on the 24th December 2009 by the South African Civil Aviation Authority. The daily schedule Airlink air service to MalaMala Game Reserve has therefore now been terminated with immediate effect.

The following alternatives are available as of 18 January 2010 :

From O R Tambo International Airport Johannesburg (JNB)
Federal Air - directly into MalaMala Game Reserve
Adult rate – age 13 and above :R 2 350.00 per person one way including airport taxes, passenger taxes and VAT
Child rate - aged 12 and under : R 1 855.00 per person one way including airport taxes, passengers taxes and VAT
** All rates are subject to change.

Click here for directions to Federal Air's office at Johannesburg International Airport.

SA Airlink/SA Express - via Kruger Mpumalanga Int’l Airport (MQP)
Adult rate – age 12 and above : R 2 008.00 per person one way incl airport taxes and a 2 hour road transfer between KMIA and MalaMala
Adult rate – age 12 and above : R 2 758.00 per person one way incl airport taxes and a 25 minute small light aircraft flight between KMIA and MalaMala
** All rates are subject to change based on flights available.

*****************************************
Federal Air : (issued by MalaMala Game Reserve on behalf of Federal Air)
Federal Air run a twice daily shuttle service between O R Tambo International Airport Johannesburg and MalaMala Game Reserve, utilizing twin engined, pressurized turbo-prop aircraft.

The schedule is:

Daily, O R Tambo (JNB) / MalaMala, 09h15 / 10h30
MalaMala / O R Tambo (JNB), 10h50 / 11h55

Daily, O R Tambo (JNB) / MalaMala, 12h40 / 13h55
MalaMala / O R Tambo (JNB), 14h15 / 15h20

** Routings and departure times may vary day to day depending on the actual camp and guest requirements as well as the landing conditions.

SV ((@))

Well, I've been saying try GenAir charter. I emailed GenAir for quote to fly from JNB/ORT to MalaMala. Cost for 2 people, 15,000 Rand, $2,000. Never mind.

regards - tom
ps - does include cold drinks and a snack

A couple of corrections:

1. Airlink wasn't grounded, their 14 Jetstream planes were. Although that was the majority of their fleet of 22.

2. There were no "passengers" on the flight that had the fatality. Early news reports referred to three passengers, but they were the pilot, co-pilot and a flight attendant. There was a municipal worker on the ground who was also slightly injured. The pilot died later from his injuries. I think initial suspicions have been confirmed recently. That air traffic control advised the pilot just after take-off that there was smoke from the #2 engine, but he shut down the wrong engine and crashed soon after. So pilot error.

Although of course the original engine problem here was one of the "red flags" that contributed to the eventual investigation into the Jetstream Honeywell engine problem.

Thanks to Arthur SA, for pointing out the truth. It is the easiest thing in the world to criticise South Africa especialy when yo have no knowledge of the facts, which seems to be a speciality of some!

Arthur

You're right abut Airlink, but the impact to me is exactly the same - they're grounded on my flight.

Thanks for the clarification, I was going from memory of a quickly scanned article - none of this information was on the Airlink website when I looked - that is I belive a valid criticism.

No prob Matt. I'm not batting for Airlink, I know nothing about their proficiency, good or bad. And I suppose "pilot error" can sometimes reflect on an airline's choice of personnel, training, whatever.

Oops. "Airlink flight makes a U-turn": www.timeslive.co.za/news/article271200.ece

I had booked for S.A. Airlink flights (through SAA) for the end of March (2010) Durban to Nelspruit (MQP) Kruger - this week I had my flight cancelled and changed. S.A. Airlink have also cancelled quite a few of the routes thay had before. I have now cancelled my flight and we'll drive to Kruger, but we still have to get from Kruger to Durban & now need to decide whether to re-book that leg or not. I just worry they will cancel/change schedule again & their plane problems are a concern!