Officials in South Africa tried to stop plans by Emirates Airline to launch a fourth daily flight to Johannesburg, causing a fallout which has seen a top South African aviation official being suspended, local media have reported.
The dispute between Emirates and the Department of Transport over the airline’s introduction of a fourth daily flight which started on October 26 is now being pursued through diplomatic channels, according to a report by Business Day newspaper in South Africa.
The paper said Emirates last week took the department to the High Court in Pretoria in a bid to force it to allow the introduction of the flight in line with a 2007 bilateral agreement between the governments of South Africa and the UAE.
It added that while the department adhered to the court order that the flight must go ahead, the UAE has written to Transport Minister Dipuo Peters asking for an explanation.
“Discussions are taking place between SA and the UAE. We are confident that we will soon find each other on the matter in dispute,” department spokesman Tiyani Rikhotso told the paper.
The department said it still wants the bilateral agreement with the UAE to be reviewed.
There has also been internal fallout over the matter, with acting chief director of aviation Vuwani Ndwamoto being suspended last week over his role in the saga, the paper reported.
It said in August, Ndwamoto wrote a letter to Emirates in which he gave permission for the fourth flight but his superior, deputy director-general Zakhele Thwala then wrote a letter to Emirates in October withdrawing permission for the flight.
In Friday’s court hearing, the court found the first letter to be valid but said the second did not apply.
Emirates did not immediate respond to a request from Arabian Business for a comment on the report.
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