Rain halts Swaziland's air services

MBABANE Air freight and air passenger service to Swaziland have been unavailable during rainy weather since the beginning of the year, and no technical remedy is at hand. Radar and other equipment at the control tower of the country’s only airport, located at the Matsapha Industrial Estate, was destroyed by an electrical storm in December. Replacement parts imported from Italy do not work and aircraft can only land during clear daylight hours. Earlier this month planes from Swaziland Airlink, the only air carrier servicing the country, had to abort landings at Matsapha during rainy weather. When visibility is impaired, planes must either wait at Johannesburg for the weather to clear or turn back mid-flight. SWACAA said that the problem was not unsolvable. However, no time frame was given for the resumption of normal operations at Matsapha. Little ever changes in Swaziland, and FTW readers with long memories will recall that it was 25 years ago in 1988 that Pope John Paul II was forced to land at Johannesburg’s airport due to a rainstorm at this destination, Swaziland. The Pontiff had pointedly excluded SA from his southern African itinerary due to political conditions prevalent at the time. SA’s fastacting foreign affairs minister, Pik Botha, greeted Pope John Paul II when his aircraft landed and escorted him to the Swazi border.