South African transport minister Blade Nzimande said he welcomed the decision by the South Africa Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) to suspend SA Express's operations and ground some of its aircraft.
SACAA on Thursday suspended SA Express's certificate of airworthiness, the operator's certificate as well as aircraft maintenance approvals, citing a deficient safety management system which posed a huge public safety risk.
As a result, nine out of 21 aircraft being operated by SA Express were grounded and the airline must reapply to continue its business.
Nzimande said that this audit was critical and illustrated SACAA's impartiality in managing aviation safety and security in the South African air space regardless of the ownership and origin of airlines.
"SACAA discharged its mandate as contained in the South African Civil Aviation Authority Act. In arriving at its decision, SACAA executed its mandate of promoting and maintaining a safe, secure and sustainable civil aviation environment without any prejudice," Nzimande said.
"I therefore call upon SA Express board and management to ensure that they cooperate with SACAA to correct all the transgressions as contained in the audit report."
South African Airways (SAA) has said it has recovery plans in place that entail partnering with other airlines to support passengers affected by the grounding of SA Express planes.
On Friday, SAA, which has struggled with cash constraints in recent years, said it had collaborated with Mango Airlines and SA Airlink to service stranded SA Express passengers.
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) said it was concerned about the safety of workers at the grounded carrier and the security of their jobs.
