Govt has no plans to ground Emirates

Cape Town - It is unfortunate that private and confidential correspondence between the South African department of transport and the SA foreign mission in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) found itself in the hands of "information peddlers who leaked it to media", the department said in a statement on Monday afternoon.

"Without the necessary and relevant context, the contents of the correspondence have been blown out of proportion and consequently created undue media frenzy and panic," according to the department.

"We wish to state categorically that there are no intentions on the part of the South African government to to halt the services of Emirates Airline to South Africa."

Minister of Transport Dipuo Peters has since delegated the deputy director-general for Aviation to travel to the UAE to meet with the head of SA's foreign mission and the officials of the UAE to resolve the issues at hand.

The department said bilateral discussions between SA and the UAE are underway with a view to primarily resolve two issues, namely, the request by Emirates to introduce a fourth daily flight to Johannesburg and the Bilateral Air Service Agreement between SA and the UAE under which Emirates operates.

"Regarding the request to introduce a fourth flight to Johannesburg, it must be noted that this flight by Emirates is currently in operation on the basis of 'a letter of authorisation' to do so, which was unduly granted by an official of the department of transport with no authority to do so," stated the department.

Emirates obtained an interdict against the department of transport from halting the fourth flight to Johannesburg.

Technically, the fourth flight is currently operating on the basis of the court interdict as the Department of Transport has stated its intention to withdraw the authorization by the official who has since been suspended due to this unfortunate situation.

"We need to attend to these issues with a sense of urgency to ensure compliance with all the statutes governing our Bilateral Air Service Agreement with the government of the UAE. The agreement is the basis on which Emirates Airline is flying to South Africa hence the need for the two governments to urgently meet and discuss all matters related to this," said Peters.

These discussions are taking place within the spirit of progressive bilateral cooperation between SA and the UAE. It's critical to urgently deal with any issue that may seek to raise questions around our bilateral relations with the UAE."

The foreign operator permit granted to Emirates by the department of transport allows them to fly to SA 56 times a week - 14 times to Cape Town, to Durban, 28 times - including the fourth flight in question.

"There's absolutely no need for passengers to panic as there's no intention to prevent Emirates from flying to SA," said the department.

Emirates continues to operate all its services to its three destinations in South Africa according to schedule, including the fourth daily flight to Johannesburg, a spokesperson for the airline confirmed to Fin24 on Monday.

Tiyani Rikhotso, spokesperson of the department of transport, told Fin24 earlier that the only basis for operating the fourth flight currently is the court interdict Emirates secured against the department of transport about two weeks ago.

He said an official is currently on suspension regarding the matter and the department is dealing with the matter internally.