The reaction of South African Airways to Saturday's attempted hijacking showed that the airline's emergency policies and procedures were adequate to the task, SAA boss Khaya Ngqula said on Monday.
"All the rules were adhered to. Everybody was safe. Everybody reached their destination. Nobody lost a parent. Nobody lost a child," Ngqula, the airline's chief executive officer, said.
He thanked the public and passengers on SA322 for being calm during the incident, the first involving the airline since 1972.
Reacting to comments made by some passengers unhappy with their treatment during and after the incident, Ngqula said that in cases of hijacking someone was bound to be unhappy.
"From the moment an aircraft is hijacked, it is a military zone. The security forces take charge."
Flight SA322 pilot Captain Neville Reed said they monitored the entire incident on closed-circuit TV and were able to keep track of events in the passenger cabin.
"Before they (fellow passengers) tackled the person (the hijacker), we had already declared an emergency and turned back to Cape Town."
SAA spokesperson Jacqui O'Sullivan said the suspect who had allegedly tried to hijack the plane by taking an air hostess hostage was overwhelmed by SAA captain Neil Hodgkins, who was travelling as a passenger, and fellow travellers Ian Thomson and Raymond Burke.
Ngqula said standard operating procedures were on par with the best in the world. Asked about the alleged hijacker possessing a syringe fitted with a hypodermic needle, SAA officials said these items were not prohibited on aircraft anywhere in the world.
A post 9/11 ban in the United States was lifted after a public outcry over the health and medical implications of such a ban.
The police defended the conduct of the Special Task Force (STF) aboard the plane after it landed.
"Obviously, from the police side, it is regrettable that some passengers felt they had been traumatised, but at the end of the day their safety was the primary concern," spokesperson Director Sally de Beer said.
Some passengers aboard the flight said police swore at and slapped them.
De Beer explained that the STF's primary function was to deal with high-risk operations that could not be dealt with effectively by other police units.
UCT student Tinashe Rioga, 21, appeared in the Bellville magistrate's court on Monday in connection with the alleged hijacking and was remanded to June 26. - Sapa