Washington flight grounds the city

THE LAUNCH of South African Airways’ new Washington flight was celebrated with a little more fanfare than was anticipated as cries of “Evacuate, evacuate” met the first high-powered guests as they arrived for the launch party. According to sister publication TNN, for an hour the city ground to a halt when yet another aircraft wandered into the no-fly zone and key federal buildings were placed on an emergency footing. With the all-clear, guests finally arrived and the party proceeded. The new flights will be operated by Boeing 747-400s and were inaugurated to Johannesburg on July 2. Billed as direct flights, the aircraft will in fact call at Accra, Ghana, in both directions.