South Africa’s biggest airline facing delays

FlySafair and LIFT are experiencing an ongoing technical issue that is affecting the airlines’ check-in systems and causing delays.

Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) informed passengers on Sunday, 16 March, that the two airlines are being affected by an ongoing global systems issue. 

“The technical issue is currently impacting the airlines’ check-in systems and causing delays,” the company said.

“Technicians from the airlines and their service providers are actively working to resolve the matter. However, there is currently no estimated time for full resolution.”

ACSA explained that this technical issue has resulted in passengers experiencing longer-than-usual check-in processing times and long queues at check-in counters. 

To minimise any inconvenience, the company advised passengers to allow for additional time at the airport as follows:

• For regional flights: Arrive at least 3 hours before your departure time.
• For domestic flights: Arrive at least 2 hours before your departure time.

“For the most up-to-date information on your flight, passengers are encouraged to download the ACSA Mobile App and subscribe to flight notifications,” it said. 

“Alternatively, passengers may contact FlySafair and LIFT airlines directly for any airline-related inquiries.”

“We sincerely thank all passengers for their patience and understanding.”

In a press statement released on Sunday, 16 March, LIFT acknowledged that it has had minor delays over the weekend due to a global issue experienced by its system provider.

“This impacted the printing of baggage tags and boarding passes,” the airline said.

“Our teams managed to handle the challenges with the utmost professionalism, which thankfully minimised the impact on our customers.”

“The technical issue is in the process of being resolved, in fact, all our Cape Town counters are now fully operational, and we hope the remainder will be restored overnight, resulting in minimal impact on Monday.”

This technical issue is the latest in a long streak of blows for Flysafair – South Africa’s largest airline – in the past few months.

In December 2024, the Domestic Air Services Council found that FlySafair does not comply with South Africa’s ownership laws.

This is because 75% of the airline’s voting rights are held by South African trusts and companies and not people. 

That followed a complaint by LIFT’s owner, Global Airways Operations.

FlySafair risked having its licence suspended because of this but was given a year to comply with local ownership laws.

If the carrier fails to comply within the deadline of 12 months from 23 January, it will be required to appear before the Domestic Air Services Council to justify why its license should not be suspended or revoked.

Grounding FlySafair, which controls 60% of the domestic market and carries an average of 30,000 passengers using 34 aircraft per day, could leave hundreds of thousands of people stranded.

The airline was hit with another blow earlier this year, when it came under fire for its practice of overbooking flights.

Critics took to social media in January this year after the airline left multiple passengers stranded in airports despite having confirmed tickets.