Airlink Cancels Nampula Flights Today – Situation to be Monitored

Airlink Cancels Nampula Flights Today – Situation to be Monitored

07 January 2025, Johannesburg - Airlink regrets to announce the cancellation of today’s flights to and from Nampula in Mozambique.

Affected customers will be given a full refund or re-routed via Maputo, Beira or Vilanculos.

The decision to cancel today’s operations to Nampula follows a claim for damages instituted in Mozambique Court application by two Mozambican passengers, who were offloaded from an Airlink flight in Johannesburg, South Africa on 7 December 2024, for unruly and threatening behaviour. The instituting of the claim was accompanied by a Court application in Mozambique to have Airlink’s aircraft seized in Mozambique pending the outcome of the claim.

Airlink will continue to monitor the situation.

The incident in Johannesburg that led to the passengers’ offloading (and the voluntary disembarkation of their accompanying family members) was handled in accordance with South Africa’s civil aviation regulations. As required by law, the incident was reported at the time to the relevant authorities, including the South African Civil Aviation Authority.

On 28 December 2024, a Mozambique Court, on an ex-party basis granted the applicants an interim order to seize at least three Airlink aircraft, with a hearing set down for mid-January 2025. However, on the same day Mozambique court officials attempted to seize an Airlink aircraft at Nampula Airport but were unsuccessful.

Airlink has appointed legal counsel in Mozambique to establish its rights under Mozambican law to stop the Court Order’s execution. This is on the basis that the seizure of any aircraft operated by Airlink would be unlawful for various reasons, including that:

•⁠ ⁠ By solemn commitment by the State of Mozambique to various international conventions, Mozambique Courts do not have jurisdiction to seize or arrest foreign registered aircraft as security for civil claims

•⁠ ⁠ Airlink is not cited in the Court Order

•⁠ ⁠ The Court Order was obtained without a statement of claim being served on Airlink or affording Airlink, as the Defendant, the opportunity to be heard

•⁠ ⁠ Mozambique’s Courts do not have the jurisdiction to consider the claim as the incident occurred in South Africa and Airlink’s terms and conditions of carriage, which is a contract accepted by all customers as a pre-requisite for purchase, was concluded in South Africa and are governed by South African law.

•⁠ ⁠ The seemingly dubious and nefarious circumstances in which the claim has been brought and the Court Order granted

As a designated South African carrier, Airlink provides about 70 percent of scheduled commercial air travel between South Africa and Mozambique, with its services regulated by the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) between the two countries. In terms of the BASA, both states’ respective authorities are bound to intervene to prevent any unlawful seizure of aircraft operated by Airlink, including any threats of seizure. On this basis, Airlink has notified South Africa’s Department of Transport, the Department of International Relations & Cooperation as well as the SACAA and its Mozambique counterpart authority, the IACM.

“Given the threat and potential for the actual seizure of Airlink aircraft, we have suspended all operations to and from Nampula while the matter is dealt with through legal and diplomatic channels. We realise this has harmful consequences for trade, tourism and both business and leisure travel between the affected markets, but no airline can be expected to continue providing a service under such conditions,” said Airlink CEO and Managing Director, Rodger Foster.

“Similarly, as the safety and well-being of its passengers, crew and aircraft come before any other operational consideration, Airlink has a strict zero-tolerance policy with regards to unruly behaviour onboard its aircraft. Any interference, threats or belligerence towards our crew, or disruption to the crew’s primary task of providing passenger safety, puts the lives of all onboard at risk,” added Mr Foster.