CemAir

CemAir (Pty) is an airline from South Africa servicing tourist destinations and business towns, as well as leasing aircraft to other airlines across Africa. The airline's head office and engineering and maintenance facility are located in Hangar 6 OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg.^[2]

CemAir

IATA ICAO Call sign 5Z KEM CEMAIR
Founded	2005
Hubs	OR Tambo International Airport
Frequent-flyer program	Skyrewards
Fleet size	26
Headquarters	Kempton Park, South Africa
Key people	Miles van der Molen (CEO)[1]
Website	cemair.co.za

History

The company was formed in 2005 with the purpose of operating turboprop commuter aircraft, with the initial fleet consisting of 1 Cessna Grand Caravan aircraft and 3 Beechcraft 1900C aircraft.^{[citation needed]}

In January 2018, the South African Civil Aviation Authority withdrew the Certificate of Airworthiness for 12 of the airline's aircraft due to allegedly unqualified personnel certifying the aircraft as airworthy. It was subsequently forced by the authorities to suspend operations in late 2018.^[3] The airline successfully launched a High Court challenge, and the grounding was overturned. The CAA then again grounded the Airline in January 2019 and CemAir challenged the decision before the Civil Aviation Appeal Committee. On 29 April 2019, the CAAC issued a judgement in favour of the airline, calling the CAA's actions "irrational, arbitrary, unreasonable and procedurally unfair" and "factually wrong."^[4][3][5][6]

In January 2021, CemAir signed an interline agreement with Ethiopian Airlines.^[7]

Destinations

Charter operations

Based at OR Tambo International Airport, South Africa, a large portion of the fleet is deployed outside of South Africa. The main foreign deployments are to Mali in West Africa, Gaborone, Botswana, and Juba, South Sudan.^{[citation needed]}

Scheduled destinations

Cemair operates to the following destinations as per the FlyCemair website.^[8]

Domestic

• Bloemfontein - Bloemfontein Airport
• Cape Town - Cape Town International Airport
• East London - East London Airport
• George - George Airport
• Hoedspruit - Hoedspruit Airport
• Johannesburg - O.R. Tambo International Airport hub
• Margate - Margate Airport
• Plettenberg Bay - Plettenberg Bay Airport
• Kimberley - Kimberley Airport
• Durban - King Shaka International Airport
• Port Elizabeth - Port Elizabeth Airport

International

• Maputo, Mozambique - Maputo International Airport
• Kasane, Botswana - Kasane Airport
• Maun, Botswana - Maun Airport^[9]
• Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe - Victoria Falls Airport^[10]

Fleet

CemAir Beechcraft 1900D

CemAir Bombardier CRJ200

As of April 2023^[update], the CemAir fleet consists of the following aircraft:^{[11][failed verification]}

Aircraft	In Fleet	Orders	Passengers	Notes
Beechcraft 1900D	4	—	19
Bombardier CRJ100	4	—	50
Bombardier CRJ200	4	—	50
Bombardier CRJ700	2	—	70
Bombardier CRJ900	5	—	90
De Havilland Canada Dash 8-100	1	—	37
De Havilland Canada Dash 8 Q300	2	—	50
De Havilland Canada Dash 8 Q400	4	—	78
Total	26	—

Accidents and incidents

CemAir suffered two hull losses in 2008 with aircraft leased out to 3rd parties, one in South Sudan and the other in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

• On 2 May 2008, a CemAir-owned Beechcraft 1900 - registered in Kenya and operated by Kenyan-based Flex Air Cargo - was flying from Wau to Juba, South Sudan when it crashed near Rumbek, killing all nineteen passengers and two crew. Among the passengers were two senior officials of the Sudan People's Liberation Army and their wives.^[12]
• On 1 September 2008, an Air Serv-leased nineteen passenger Beechcraft 1900C crashed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, about 15 km northwest of Bukavu^[13][14] carrying two crew and fifteen passengers.^{[15][16][17][18]} The aircraft was wet leased at the time and flown by crew from Cemair, which was then based at Lanseria International Airport, Johannesburg, South Africa. The flight was arriving at Bukavu following technical service at N'Dolo Airport, Kinshasa.^[19] The aircraft crashed into a mountainous ridge.^[20] Passengers included twelve Congolese, one French, one Indian, and one Canadian.^[21] All 17 occupants were killed.^[22]