On 22nd June 2016, ECAir Equatorial Congo Airlines (Republic of the Congo) suspended its domestic operations due to the unserviceability of two Boeing 737 aircraft. One of the aircraft utilised on the Brazzaville-Point Noire route was reportedly undergoing maintenance in Brussels, with the remaining aircraft damaged as a result of a hangar fire in Prague. ECAir has stated that it will continue to sell tickets and honour existing bookings; however, flights will be operated by fellow Congo-based airline, Trans Air Congo and its fleet of Boeing 737 aircraft.

On May 1st, South African regional carrier SA Express was temporarily grounded by the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) due to a number of safety and non-compliance concerns. Following a series of inspections and audits carried out by the SACAA, SA Express’ safety monitoring system was reportedly found to be inadequate. This prompted the subsequent suspension of the airline’s Air Operators Certificate (AOC). Despite this, the AOC was reinstated on the 3rd of May after the SACCA acknowledged that the airline had implemented a satisfactory action plan to rectify the concerns raised.

The Indonesian Ministry of Transport (MOT) has announced plans to suspend the in-house ground handling operations of both Indonesia Air Asia and Lion Air. The MOT cited that the airlines’ ground handler breached operational protocols and procedures on numerous occasions. There have reportedly been a number of instances where international flight aircraft were marshalled into domestic terminals, which did not have the infrastructure or capacity to handle the immigration and security check requirements. The airlines were subsequently granted a week to organise a replacement ground handler before a formal investigation is launched.