South African Airways (SAA) has added its voice to denouncing reports that a runway incursion occurred on Friday night, February 23, between an incoming Airbus belonging to the national carrier and an outbound Lufthansa flight.
The denouncement follows after Air Traffic and Navigation Services slammed the video circulated via social media.
SAA said it is “aware of the detail pertaining to an SAA aircraft and a perceived runway incursion between Lufthansa flight LH573 that was scheduled to depart from Johannesburg on route to Frankfurt, and SAA flight SA422 that had landed a few minutes earlier from Port Elizabeth.”
According to SAA, the Lufthansa Boeing 747-8 was scheduled to depart from runway 03L at 20:16.
However, due to an impending storm, the departure was delayed, and the aircraft was permitted to vacate the runway.
The SAA Airbus A320 which had arrived earlier, was then permitted to cross runway 03L and taxi to its intended terminal.
“A preliminary assessment by SAA had established that no runway incursion occurred, as alluded to, by some media reports.”
ATNS has confirmed that the video was a ruse, a deduction reached through scrutinising time-lapse detail.
“SAA’s Flight Operations and Safety Department, together with key stakeholders’ safety departments, have done both the internal and collaborative safety assessments and investigations and confirmed there was no aircraft taking off at the time, as claimed in the video caption,” SAA said.
“SAA and its aviation stakeholders employ robust safety measures and implement strategies to mitigate against any potential risk that may arise to passengers and aircraft.”
SAA Interim CEO, professor John Lamola says: “SAA’s flight deck crew are trained routinely to handle all situations that may occur in the air or on the ground, which include runway incursions.
“SAA confirms that there was no runway incursion or risk of any occurring as shown by the video on social media.”
