South African Regulator Says 40 Of 46 Grounded Planes Back in Air

JOHANNESBURG – Forty of the 46 airplanes grounded this week owing to faults at the maintenance unit of state-owned South African Airways (SAA) have been returned to service, South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) Chief Executive Poppy Khoza said on Thursday.

Khoza said SACAA had made five findings during its audit at SAA Technical, two of which were serious. The two serious findings were that unqualified personnel had signed off on maintenance work and that maintenance checks on flight data recorders and cockpit voice recorders had not been done correctly.

(Reuters)