Zimbabwe grounds South African planes in retaliation

Zimbabwe’s Civil Aviation Authority has grounded South African planes in retaliation for a plane that was grounded yesterday. At least two SAA flights from Harare are reported to have been grounded since Saturday morning. The reasons for them not being allowed to take off were not immediately known.

On Friday, South Africa grounded an Air Zimbabwe aircraft at OR Tambo airport. The aircraft was grounded allegedly due to non-compliance with South African civil aviation regulations‚ particularly the requirement that an operator must be in possession of a Foreign Operator’s Permit‚ together with other documents‚ which must be on-board an aircraft at all times‚ and made available for inspection on request by the relevant authorities.