VIP flight budget overspent

Increasing diplomatic intervention in foreign countries, coupled to the declining rand, has been blamed for VIP jets of the Air Force having already begun two months ago to exceed their flight quota for the current financial year.

The jets are mainly used by President Thabo Mbeki and ministers for domestic and international flights.

Informed sources have expressed concern that the shortfall in the Air Force's VIP budget could be "enormous" at the end of the current financial year at the end of March.

Meanwhile, fuel destined and budgeted for other operational flights is being used to meet the shortfall. Sources warned that this could lead to the grounding of some aircraft soon because of the lack of fuel. In fact, fuel tanks at the Waterkloof Air Force base in Centurion, the home base for VIP jets, are running so low that it has become impossible to refuel the Boeings of 60 Squadron. On at least one occasion recently, a Boeing had to divert to the Louis Trichardt Air Force Base to refuel.

An Air Force spokesperson said "the decline of the rand has had a serious impact on the planning for the use of squadrons. It has also led to a decline in the output of operational flights within the allocated budget. This means that the Air Force will probably not be able to meet its output targets for the rest of the year."

It is understood that investigations are under way to establish whether money from flight budgets of other departments such as the presidency, can legally be transferred to the VIP squadron to alleviate the shortfall.

News24