Cable theft causes OR Tambo flight delays

Johannesburg - Cable theft caused a number of flights to be delayed on Sunday at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, the airport said.

"We don't have a fuel shortage. We have three severely damaged power cables that has prevented us from refueling aircraft at the airport," said Airports Company SA spokesperson Unathi Batyashe-Fillis.

"This was due to an attempted robbery of the cables. It's just outside the perimeter of the airport."

Police were investigating, and airport technicians had been working since around 11:00 to restore power to the cables.

"Once that is done we can then start operations as soon as possible," she said.

"Operations are not at a standstill. Flights are still departing but many are still on the ground and delayed. Refueling is taking place but at a very slow rate."

Once the cables had been replaced and power restored, the process of clearing the flight back log would begin.

This would be done on a first-come-first-serve basis as determined by Air Traffic and Navigation Services (ATNS).

"Flights couldn't take off from around 10:00. At the last count, it was roughly around 20 flights that couldn't depart," said Batyashe-Fillis

"They were mainly local flights but a few international flights were also affected. We are hoping to get everything running before the majority of international flights begin departing later this [Sunday] afternoon."