'It was quite an ordeal': stranded passenger on chaos at Cape Town International Airport

23 January 2025 - 10:41 By Kim Swartz
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Passengers grew increasingly uneasy as departure and arrival notice boards reflected indefinite delays at Cape Town International Airport.
Passengers grew increasingly uneasy as departure and arrival notice boards reflected indefinite delays at Cape Town International Airport.
Image: Shaun van Coller

The mood shifted from one of irritation to anxiety, then mass confusion as one flight after another was cancelled and luggage taken off aircraft due to a power failure that shut down fuel supplies for hours at Cape Town International Airport on Wednesday.

“It was quite an ordeal. Staff were in the dark, peoples' mood changed from calm to irritation,” said Shaun van Coller, director of Lockup Technologies, who was booked on a 5pm flight home to Johannesburg. He said the airport was unusually hot as if the air-conditioning was not working.

Irritation turned to uncertainty when passengers saw flights being delayed indefinitely and then cancelled. 

“I started noticing that two or three flights were delayed and went to the boarding line on time, but then things got weird [as] more flights were delayed indefinitely, including my flight,” said Van Coller.

Passengers plot their next move as flights were delayed.
Passengers plot their next move as flights were delayed.
Image: Shaun van Coller

“One of the three flights delayed indefinitely went to cancelled status, but they were also at the same boarding gate where I was supposed to go. It was mass confusion, they started taking people’s luggage off the planes.”

The Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) apologised for the chaos and said the airport was operating normally on Thursday.

Acsa spokesperson Terence Delomoney told eNCA they experienced a power failure that feeds into the fuel supply and other areas of the airport. Operations continued on generator power. “When the [electrical] repair was supposed to be completed we also had a failure on the generators and this resulted in a delay of being able to supply fuel for about three hours. Some airlines cancelled flights.”

He said some airlines scheduled extra flights on Thursday to assist stranded passengers.

Van Coller was fortunate to stay overnight at a friend's home in Cape Town and had to book another flight which only departs on Friday.

He was unsure whether he would be reimbursed as he did not choose travel insurance.

Businesswoman and mother of two Lailah Parker and her family were scheduled to take a return flight home on Wednesday. She received a notice about a delay but only after arriving at the airport did she discover the flight was cancelled.

“The SMS notifying me about the cancellation came through after our flight time. Due to the backlog of passengers [the airline] could only assist us with a flight on January 25. There was no additional expense for the flight,” said Parker.

“After being stranded at the airport for three hours we had to extend our car rental at additional cost. We also had to find last-minute accommodation, which added further unexpected expenses for three nights.

“The situation has been stressful, especially as my husband and I are travelling with two children. Not knowing whether we would find accommodation at the last minute made things more difficult and expensive.”

TimesLIVE


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