‘Abuse by foreign airlines helps undercut local operators’

“SOUTH AFRICAN authorities are unclear about who is responsible for policing international cargo flights.”
That’s the view of Tramon Air’s Daniel Coetzer who says many of these arrive at night. “The aircraft is loaded up again and flies out the same night. We recently had a Russian freighter that was registered in Burundi and had its FOP (Freighter Operators Permit) issued when it landed here, which is incorrect procedure. This must be issued prior to the flight from its base. But it then flew to Lanseria, took on cargo and travelled to Angola, then returned to JIA.
“It was then impounded by the local authorities for irregularities, and I understand among these was the fact that it hadn’t been serviced for a number of years. And it isn’t the only aircraft of this nature to be impounded. You will see one standing at JIA which has been there for the past four months.”
“There is flagrant abuse of the South African FOP system going on, and it’s costing the industry here at least US$50 million per annum. Local operators are obliged to keep to strict maintenance, insurance and crew regulations. These are areas often overlooked by many foreign registered cargo aircraft, which also enables them to substantially undercut prices to our disadvantage.”