Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC
USAFRICA AIRWAYS IS challenging a US Department of Transportation (DoT) decision to reallocate the carrier's seven frequencies in the US-South Africa market to World Airways and Southern Air Transport.
USAfrica, which shut down operations and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February, had to show by 18 September, that financing is in place to resume flight operations, on 1 December.
The airline says that final talks with potential lenders continue. The DoT proposed to shift the routes because of USAfrica's inability to sustain services.
The move is a serious blow to USAfrica's battle to resume operations. It still hopes that a marketing alliance with Continental Airlines will give financial institutions the incentive to lend USAfrica the cash, which is needed to restructure and resume services.
World Airways would receive five frequencies, involving combi and all-cargo McDonnell Douglas MD-11 flights between Johannesburg and New York. SAT plans twice-weekly all-cargo flights between Columbus, Ohio/New York and Johannesburg/Cape Town, using Boeing 747Fs.
Source: Flight International
