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Sure, if you own your own plane you can nip off to Plett for a weekend.

The majority of those flying in, however, are reliant on CemAir to ensure they don’t have to slog through the horror of a thousand trucks on the N2.

Nothing says ‘holiday’ quite like white-knuckle-gripping the steering wheel as the cars pile up behind you and the kids belt out ‘Baby Shark’ in the back seat.

So yeah, good news on that front then via Fin24:

The South African Civil Aviation Authority confirmed on Thursday that it had re-issued two CemAir Air Operator Certificates.

The two certificates pave the way for CemAir to conduct operations under Part 121 and Part 135 of the civil aviation regulations. The Part 121 certificate means that CemAir can now resume commercial air transport operations with an aircraft that can carry more than 19 passengers.

The Part 135 approval allows the airline to conduct commercial air transport operations with an aircraft that can carry up to a maximum of 19 passengers.

According to SACAA, the approvals come after a period of divergence between the airline and regulator on regulation compliance matters that included “systemic and procedural non-compliances”, which led to the suspension of the airline’s Part 121 and Part 135 certificates.

That’s all very boring, unless you’re into the minutiae of how airlines operate.

The juicy stuff, of course, is why CemAir had to have the certificates reissued. You may remember the mess they found themselves in back in December, and the SACAA audit did actually find a few discrepancies:

“Further engagements between CemAir and the SACAA ensued, with the aim of addressing the identified shortcomings,” says SACAA.

“This culminated in the submission of Corrective Action Plans (CAPs), for assessment and approval by the SACAA, aimed at addressing the audit findings.”

After several interactions, the revised CAPs for both Part 121 and 135 were found to be satisfactory.

Great news for fans of the ‘semigration’, too, who have snapped up property in Plett as they seek to escape the stresses of big city living.

Good luck during the upcoming Matric Rage and December holidays, though.

[source:fin24]