"I would like to sincerely apologise to our passengers for the terrible inconvenience, but assure them that their safety and well-being was our number one priority," said 1Time CEO Rodney James in a statement.

The incident took pace on Good Friday, but the airline only confirmed on Tuesday that a Boeing 737 from Johannesburg to George had to make an emergency landing at Overberg Airforce Base near Bredasdorp.

The plane was diverted to the airforce base after it reporting a "wing flap indication warning" because the Overberg facility had a longer runway.

"Each passenger will receive a return flight voucher"

The airline said as a precautionary measure an emergency landing was declared and the aircraft landed safely with no injuries reported.

Passengers were disembarked into a training facility building and offered refreshments from the aircraft.

"Due to the unknown time required to repair the fault and the closing time of George Airport, busses were arranged to fetch our passengers and transport them to George," James said.

"Unfortunately the busses had to come from Cape Town, which meant an uncomfortably long wait for our passengers," he said.

Busses arrived around midnight and passengers arrived at the George Airport at 3.30am.

James said 1Time's George Airport staff stayed on duty throughout the night to make sure that passengers were taken care of on arrival.

"As a token of our apology, each passenger will receive a return flight voucher from our customer relations office," he said.