The only airline providing commercial flights to Plettenberg Bay has suspended its operations.
CemAir has halted flights between Cape Town and Plettenberg Bay and reduced services between Johannesburg and Plettenberg Bay due to infrastructure issues at Plettenberg Bay Airport.
In September 2021, the airport was downgraded to category 2, falling below the SACAA's minimum standard for scheduled air services. However, with CemAir's assistance, the airport regained Category 4 status by November 2021, allowing two-hour flights between Johannesburg and Plettenberg Bay to resume.
Now, the airport has once again failed to meet SACAA standards, creating uncertain conditions for CemAir’s scheduled services.
On 1 July, Garden Route Aero (GRA), a subsidiary of rsa.AREO (which manages the Winelands Airport in Cape Town), was set to take over operations from Bitou Municipality.
On 9 July, GRA announced the transition was in progress, but issues soon surfaced.
“During, and as part of, the handover process, technical experts, engineers, and the South African Civil Aviation Authority have raised observations of structural deterioration in the runway,” stated Bitou Municipality and GRA in a joint announcement.
The Knysna-Plett Herald reported that the SACAA had issued a notice on 27 June for the runway at Plettenberg Bay Airport to be investigated due to safety concerns.
The joint statement continued: "Pavement specialists are required to conduct a detailed assessment of the pavement infrastructure and to confirm what remedial work is required on the runway. Consultations are currently taking place with the scheduled airline, CemAir, and the general aviation fraternity to assess the impact on airport operations.”
The airport’s status remains uncertain, with conflicting statements issued.
On 2 July, CemAir was informed of an imminent closure the next day, leading CemAir CEO Miles van der Molen to suspend all flights.
However, on 3 July, a further communication was received indicating that would not be closed as the SACAA had accepted a phased action plan and would assess progress of the plan on 31 July 2024.
Further confusion arose on 7 July, when Bitou Municipality announced the airport would close from 31 July. This was amended again on 9 July, stating no closure dates had been confirmed and a plan was in progress.
“The airport was closed and open and closed again and then open again. So we are keeping up with the news on that one, but unfortunately we haven’t been given the benefit of much courtesy by the municipality.
So for now, our understanding is that it’s open until further notice. There will be a closure at some point for the actual repair but that will be some time away,” said van der Molen, speaking to Travel News yesterday.
Van der Molen confirmed, “Cape Town will remain suspended, Jo’burg was suspended as well but we decided to reintroduce some of those flights,” although CemAir has reduced Johannesburg-Plettenberg Bay flights from daily (with twice-daily flights in high season) to four times a week.
Van der Molen noted that continuing to serve Plettenberg Bay under current conditions is not commercially viable for CemAir. “It’s a very marginal route for us. We have a place there and a lot of affection for the place, but there’s no real commercial rationale for continuing the route. So it’s more a thing we do for pleasure than for business."
“If we stopped flying there, it would be a big loss for the region but we would move on quite quickly.” He explained that serving the destination had been problematic and costly for the airline.
“This isn’t the first time there’s been an issue at the airport. 2021 was the last time. The licence was downgraded and we got involved to upgrade it again, so it’s been a bit of a yo-yo story for us.”
CemAir does not plan to assist the airport this time. “They seem to have a plan now, so hopefully, their plan works,” van der Molen concluded.
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