The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) found irregularities at the maintenance and technical service provider, SAA Technical. The CAA has grounded the planes due to non-compliance.

As a result, affected aircraft may not be flown until the necessary corrective action has been carried out.

SA Flyer Magazine Editor Guy Leitch says this is a follow on from an incident report by the CAA about what was called a 'Mango-nosedive'.

"It is extraordinary that the CAA has resorted to grounding the airlines, I believe to be the Boeing 737s of Comair, Kulula and SAA. One would have thought that they would have thought they would have solved these problems before having to ground the airlines."

Airline operator Comair is advising customers to check the status of flights online.

SAA has also recalled some of its aircraft and cancelled four domestic flights.

It says it has contingency plans in place.

Mango Airlines?@FlyMangoSA

Dear Mango Guests, please take note of this statement by Mango Airlines regarding the findings of an audit conducted by the South African Civil Aviation Authority at SAA Technical that affected some of our aircraft: https://fal.cn/34EUw 

38:12 AM - Oct 22, 2019Twitter Ads info and privacy

kulula?@kulula

#kululaNotice 22 October 2019, 4:00am.
Press release: https://bit.ly/2BviWQj 
Flight status: https://bit.ly/2F1eBY7 

124:20 AM - Oct 22, 2019Twitter Ads info and privacy

eNCA