The airline condemned the incident, describing the chaotic scenes at OR Tambo International Airport two days ago as preventable.

"When you purchase an air ticket, a portion of the airport taxes—a levy or a fee—is paid to the Airports Company for the use of their facilities. It's a regulated charge that airlines collect on behalf of the airports. Essentially, this fee is negotiated between the airport and the customer for the usage of those facilities to board an aircraft. We feel that because this entirely preventable issue occurred, the Airports Company didn't effectively honour the contract or the job they seek to offer their clients. Therefore, we believe it's reasonable to request that those customers, at the very least, deserve their money back," said Kirby Gordon, FlySafair Spokesperson.

--SABC/ChannelAfrica--