A “fibre network fault” resulted in numerous flights into Cape Town being forced to reroute to other airports on Tuesday, Airports Company South Africa said in a statement.

Acsa said the fault required Cape Town International to “downgrade the instrument landing category status of the airport”.

The technical glitch, coupled with heavy fog over the airport on Tuesday morning, meant several flights had to be diverted to other cities in the region. It’s understood that both local and international flights were affected.

“Acsa’s technicians are currently working on restoring the system and aircraft will be able to land once the fog lifts,” it said. “The delay in flights mean to land and depart from Cape Town International Airport will have a knock-on effect on other Acsa airports and will impact planned schedules.”

The state-owned airports company urged passengers to contact the airlines they are travelling on for updates.

Read: Safest seat on a plane? We asked an aviation expert

“We apologise to our airport users and travellers for the inconvenience caused by this,” it said.

News24 reported that the fog in Cape Town lifted at around 10am on Tuesday, allowing flights to resume. Acsa did not provide details about what caused the fibre fault or when it would be repaired. – © 2023 NewsCentral Media