South African carrier Nationwide Airlines has ceased flying.
The carrier halted operations on Tuesday saying, “Our cash-flow has become critical.”
Nationwide flew from Gatwick three times a week to Johannesburg, a service it began in late 2003, and operated an extensive domestic network.
It is the latest airline casualty of the high oil price and deteriorating world economy, its failure following the collapse of transatlantic business-only carrier Eos Airlines on Sunday.
Nationwide’s London office was unaware of the situation this afternoon and no one from the airline was available in South Africa to comment. But in a statement chief executive Vernon Blackwell said: “We have decided to cease all flight operations until further notice.”
Founded in 1991, the carrier was restructured on low-cost lines but has been in difficulty since last November when its fleet was temporarily grounded by South Africa’s Civil Aviation Authority for maintenance checks.