7 Dec 2007. Somebody once said that a week is a long time in politics, well it can be just as long in the airline industry. Last Friday morning we awoke to the news that Nationwide airline had been. Unfortuanatley South Africa's Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) did not shower itself in glory in terms of its communication effort, and we were about the grounding. Then in the midst of all the drama, the SACAA's CEO, Zakes Myeza, resigned (talk about leaving in the middle of your own party). Happily, this all seems to be running to a good ending with Nationwide set to operate a tonight, and several local South African flights on the weekend.
Nationwide represents a vital component of the flight price competition in South Africa (just look at our past surveys and you'll see how often they are the cheapest), and we are therefore very pleased for them, their staff, their customers and the country in general that they are back :) Well done Vernon, we hope that Nationwide goes from strength to strength. As a sign of good faith we will include Nationwide in our flight survey again this weekend (and we hope you top it, as you often do).
The big winner out of the story(owned by Imperial Holdings Limited), which has won the contract to do the heavy maintenance for Nationwide Airline.