CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA — A charter plane from Angola was grounded at Cape Town International Airport for landing without a required foreign operator permit (FOP).
The aircraft from TAAG Angola Airlines landed in Cape Town last week on Friday with only the crew on board. The plane was supposed to depart the same day with workers of the American oil company Chevron.
"The Air Traffic and Navigation Services (ATNS) received a flight plan in line with its operating procedures and accepted the aircraft into South Africa's airspace from Namibia direction," South Africa's Transport Department's stated.
TAAG Angola conducts scheduled flights between Luanda and Johannesburg, and it has a Foreign Operator's Permit (FOP) listing all the aircraft it operates for these flights. The aircraft, which is subject to grounding, is not on the list because the airline grounded planes with FOP for maintenance.
"The International Air Services Act of 1993 mandates that a holder of an FOP must apply to amend their permit if there is a change in the category or kind of aircraft, but this was not done in this case," a spokesperson from Transport Department said.
