South Africa in talks with Russian airline over SA-Moscow flight route — Swiss journal

South Africa is talking to the Russian carrier Nordwind Airlines about launching direct flights from Moscow to Johannesburg and to Cape Town, according to a Swiss aviation journal.  

But the plans are at risk because Nordwind is sanctioned by the US and the European Union, which has raised questions about the safety of its Boeing and Airbus fleets, according to the aviation industry publication ch-aviation. 

The journal said late last month that South Africa’s ambassador to Russia, Mzuvukile Jeff Maqetuka, told the Russian state-owned news agency Sputnik that Pretoria was waiting for Nordwind’s decision on whether it intended to fly the SA route. Sputnik said he told them the aim was to launch four non-stop flights a week, including one to Cape Town to boost Russian tourism.  

“Our transport department discussed Aeroflot flights with the Russian transport ministry, then we were informed that it had been decided that it would be Nordwind,” Maqetuka was quoted as telling ch-aviation. 

The South African Department of Transport told Daily Maverick on Wednesday: “The National Department of Transport has not received any application from Nordwind to start a Russia-South Africa route. Should Nordwind submit such an application, normal processes would be followed.”  

However, the department did not respond to the question of whether South Africa was still, or had been, in talks with Nordwind about launching the South African route. The SA Civil Aviation Authority and the Department of International Relations and Cooperation both referred all queries to the Department of Transport, which they said was the correct authority to issue licences for foreign airlines to fly into South Africa. 

ch-aviation also reported that plans to establish direct flights from Russia to South Africa before the 2023 Russia-Africa Summit in St Petersburg in late July were disclosed by Oleg Ozerov, Russia’s ambassador-at-large and head of the Russia-Africa partnership forum. It said Sputnik and fellow Russian news agency Tass had both reported on this. 

The journal said that before commencing the South African route, Nordwind or any other Russian operator would have to demonstrate to the South African Civil Aviation Authority that its aircraft were airworthy and being maintained to the latest service bulletins issued by manufacturers — in Nordwind’s case, Airbus and Boeing — and mandatory airworthiness directives published, in this case by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the US Federal Aviation Administration.