South African Airways (SAA) advises customers that the airline has cancelled Saturday and Monday’s flights to Blantyre, Malawi due to audit conducted at the Chileka International Airport in Blantyre for airport compliance.
While the airport authority continues to keep the airport open, the essential services at Chileka International Airport are not fully compliant with minimum standards required for SAA to operate in line with its licensing conditions. SAA has therefore taken the decision to cancel two of its flights operating on Saturday and Monday to and from Blantyre.
SAA, in conjunction with the relevant authorities, will work on ensuring the airport meets the operational requirements set out in SAA’s licensing conditions and to the satisfaction of its regulator, SA Civil Aviation Authority.
The following flights are affected:
Saturday
SA172 – 19 January 2019 | Johannesburg to Blantyre
SA173 – 19 January 2019 | Blantyre to Johannesburg
Monday
SA172 – 21 January 2019 | Johannesburg to Blantyre
SA173 – 21 January 2019 |Blantyre to Johannesburg
Due to the above cancelled flights, SAA advises that customers can choose to be re-routed between Johannesburg and Lilongwe (LLW) for the period 19 January to 21 January 2019. Customers will be re-accommodated on the following scheduled flights:
SA170 – Johannesburg (JNB) – Lilongwe (LLW)
SA171 – Lilongwe (LLW) – Johannesburg (JNB)
Un-ticketed customers:
All customers that have not been ticketed can choose to be re-booked onto the Lilongwe flights operated by SAA.
Rebooking Conditions Applicable:
• SAA will rebook affected passengers onto the operation between Johannesburg and Lilongwe, where applicable;
• Re-accommodation of reservations has been made by South African Airways onto the closest available flight between Johannesburg and Lilongwe.
• Change of cabin will not be permitted.
• Change fees will be waivered
• Tickets must be re-issued on/before 21 January 2019. The booking owner may re-issue the ticket.
• Tickets to be endorsed “INVOL Re-route due SA (flight nr) CXD/Date”.
• In the event customers do not want to travel to Lilongwe, they can request a full Refund of the unused portion/ticket.