Comair and Mango Go Head to Head

A fight is brewing between the remaining two competitors in the South African budget airline space. Against the background of the recent filing for liquidation by 1Time and the debate that has ensued over the role of state-subsidised Mango, Comair Limited has highlighted that Mango, as a separate legal entity from SAA and a state-owned enterprise, is legally required to publish its financial statements, which it allegedly has not done since its inception six years ago.
 Comair operates kulula.com and British Airways in the local market, and says that it believes that the funding of Mango with tax payers money partly contributed to the failure of 1Time. Mango CEO Nico Bezuidenhout has responded by stating that Mango will only reveal its financials, if kulula does so first. CEO of Comair, Erik Venter responded that Comair, as a listed company on the JSE, releases detailed financial results every six months in accordance with the Companies Act, the rules of the JSE and based on International Financial Reporting Standards.
 “Comair has an obligation to reveal its results as a listed company,” said Venter. “Kulula.com is merely a brand of Comair Limited – it is not a separate company from Comair. Although Mango is a subsidiary of SAA, it is a separate company and needs to report as such.” No doubt, this is not the last we are going to hear of South Africa’s two budget airlines going head to head, as the competition whittles away and the fight over the remaining piece of the pie intensifies.