CemAir has announced the suspension of flights between Cape Town and Plettenberg Bay as well as the reduction of flights between Johannesburg and Plettenberg Bay, due to infrastructure problems facing Plettenberg Bay Airport.

In September 2021 the airport had to be downgraded to category 2, which meant it fell below the minimum standard required by the SACAA for scheduled air services to operate.  But in November that year, with the help of CemAir, the only provider of scheduled services to the airport,  it regained its Category 4 status and the two-hour flights between Johannesburg and Plett resumed.

Now the airport is once again disrupted and has fallen below a standard required by the SACAA, and these difficult operating conditions have cast a shadow over the future of CemAir’s scheduled service.

Garden Route Aero (GRA), a subsidiary of rsa.AREO (which manages the Winelands Airport in Cape Town) was due to take over operations at the airport from Bitou Municipality on July 1. The company announced on July 9 that the transition was under way, but problems became apparent.

“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,” said a joint statement from Bitou Municipality and GRA. And it was revealed that the SACAA had previously issued a notice on June 27, for the runway at Plettenberg Bay Airport to be investigated due to safety concerns, reported The Knysna-Plett Herald.

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 appears uncertain of its own status. It has released a series of statements giving conflicting information.

On July 2, CemAir was informed that the airport would be closed the following day, according to CemAir CEO, Miles van der Molen. CemAir suspended all flights to the airport as a result.

On July 3, a further communication published by Travelnews.africa indicated that the airport would not close.

Shortly after, on July 7, the Bitou Municipality released a statement with the contradictory information that the airport would, in fact, close from July 31.

This was again amended on July 9, with the statement that a plan was in progress and no closure dates had been confirmed.

“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,” Miles van der Molen told Tourism Update yesterday. Van der Molen is CEO of CemAir, the sole operator of scheduled services to Plettenberg Bay Airport.

“So Cape Town will remain suspended, Jo’burg was suspended as well but we decided to reintroduce some of those flights,” said Van der Molen. But CemAir has reduced flights between Johannesburg and Plettenberg Bay from daily (with twice-daily flights during the high season), to four flights a week.

Marginal route

Van der Molen said it was not particularly beneficial for CemAir to continue to serve Plettenberg Bay in the long term under such difficult conditions. “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.” Van der Molen explained that serving the destination had been a problematic and high-cost exercise for the airline.

“This isn’t the first time that 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 intend to step in to help the airport this time around. “They seem to have a plan now, so, hopefully, their plan works,” he concluded.