South Africa has threatened to ground Emirates unless a minister of the United Arab Emirates meets Transport Minister Dipuo Peters in the country by today. According to the Sunday Times, the sudden move came on Friday after a junior official issued the ultimatum through the UAE embassy.
With
the holiday season approaching, the move poses a huge risk to thousands
of travellers who use Dubai as a connecting point from Europe, USA and
Australia among other countries.
The
row is reportedly centred around the introduction of a fourth daily
flight between Durban and Johannesburg – a move that was granted in July
but hurriedly withdrawn by the department which told the airline that
due process had not been followed and permission was withdrawn.
Two
weeks ago, Emirates filed papers in the North Gauteng High Court and
obtained an order compelling the Department of Transport to honour the
written authorisation for the additional flight.
In July, News24 reported that Emirates was given the go ahead by government to introduce a fourth daily flight between Dubai and Johannesburg. The airline announced in a media release that it was lifting its number of daily flights to South Africa to seven.
This
would have increased the total number of scheduled flights between the
two countries to 49 a week, re-affirming its position as one of the
largest flight operators into South Africa.
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