SOUTH African Airways had its website, flysaa.com, temporarily suspended over the weekend after it reportedly did not pay for the renewal of the Internet domain.

Customers who tried to access the website yesterday were greeted with the message: "flysaa.com expired on January 17 and is pending renewal or deletion", from the domain name registering company Network Solutions.

It was not clear when the website was suspended but yesterday evening, it had not returned to normal. It carried a message granting the option to renew the website to "ensure that the domain name is not deleted".

While the website was down, the airline could have lost thousands of rands in possible revenue as this prevented potential flyers from using the popular online booking system.

SAA spokesperson Vimla Maistry could not be reached for comment.

The airline was said to be drafting a statement, which was not readily available at the time of going to print. - Zandile Mbabela