Comair Court Challenge Update

Comair is awaiting a court date, following the launch of its high court legal challenge of the South African government’s R5-billion guarantee provided to South African Airways in February.
 It anticipates a court date to be set for July this year, and has received responses from some of the parties concerned, including the Minister of Public Enterprises and the Minister of Finance, who will oppose the legal action.
The Minister of Transport has indicated that the department will abide by the court decision, but there has been no feedback from the government or SAA at this point.
Comair’s case is built on official government policy and legislation, which is in place to govern the operation of SAA as a state-owned entity and how it competes with the rest of the domestic aviation industry.

Comair Celebrates Inaugural Maputo Flight

 British Airways (operated by Comair within southern Africa) has launched its flights between O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg and Maputo International Airport in Mozambique.
 It’s a 65-minute flight and British Airways’ fleet of Boeing 737-300 and 400s will operate this route with daily return flights and a double daily service on Tuesdays and Saturdays.
Flights have been timed to enable ease of connectivity for international travellers transferring through ORT to Maputo. Passengers on this route will have a choice of two cabins: Club (Business Class) or Traveller (Economy Class).
Club customers can check in for their flight at the dedicated Club check-in counters and relax in the departure lounges, while waiting for their flight. All customers are provided with complimentary onboard refreshments, appropriate to the time of day.

Comair to Take on SAA

South Africa's remaining independent domestic airline Comair has announced the launch of a High Court legal action, challenging the South African government’s R5bn guarantee granted to national carrier South African Airways. In a media briefing in Johannesburg, Comair CEO Erik Venter said that the current and previous bailouts received by SAA, which now allegedly amount to over R11bn over eight ‘turnaround plans’, do not comply with either the Domestic Aviation Transport Policy or the law (the South African constitution, the SAA Act, the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act and the Public Finances Management Act). Venter said they had “no other recourse”, thus they are resorting to "legal action to achieve compliance and have not done so lightly." Comair's actions are in response to SAA's latest turnaround strategy, which is laid out over the next 20 years and was discussed in parliament last week. The objective of the challenge, according to Venter, is to "attain a level playing field in the domestic aviation market to ensure that all airlines face the same risks and the same requirements to operate on sound commercial principles.” Venter also said that the action taken by Comair was "an action to ensure that government will provide funding to SAA only after consultation with all affected stakeholders (as per the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act), and that any funding is in accordance with government’s Domestic Aviation Transport Policy. Comair has a responsibility to its employees, customers and shareholders to secure a level playing field in which to conduct its business.”

Comair Take on 1Time Liquidation

South African aviation company Comair has responded to the news that budget airline 1Time filed for liquidation on Friday.

In the process, Comair pointed out that 10 of the 11 independent, private airlines launched in South Africa since deregulation in 1991, have failed, leaving only kulula.com and British Airways, which are both operated by Comair.

“Due to the less efficient fleet it operated, the ultimate closure of 1Time was inevitable,” said Erik Venter, CEO of Comair.

“However, we are certain that in the absence of state-subsidised Mango, 1Time would have made adequate profits to upgrade its fleet and be sustainable over the long term.

Based on the previously released financial statements of SAA, and recent parliamentary comments, Mango made a loss of half a billion rand since its 2006 launch, due to undercutting the viability of the private low cost carriers.” 1Time announced on Friday that it had applied for business liquidation, and that all of its flights had been grounded.

The firm had about R320-million in short-term debt and had been in negotiations with creditors since March.

BA Change at ORT

COMAIR has advised that all British Airways passengers travelling from O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg will need to check in for regional flights at Terminal B – domestic departures, effective 10 March.

The following routes will be affected: Johannesburg-Harare; Johannesburg-Victoria Falls; Johannesburg-Livingstone; Johannesburg-Windhoek; Johannesburg-Mauritius.

End of Federal Air and Comair Agreement

Federal Airlines has announced that as of 11 February, it will no longer use the British Airways livery on its Johannesburg – Vilanculos route.

 The current ATR aircraft, dressed in British Airways livery, is part of a leasing agreement with Comair and Solenta Aviation that came into effect in October 2011. The agreement will cease in conjunction with Comair announcing the closure of its current Johannesburg – Nelspruit service.

 Federal Air remains the official Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) license holder of the Johannesburg – Vilanculos route, and will continue to own and operate the route as it has since 2006.

 There will be no effective changes made to the daily operations. Federal Air will continue to operate the ATR aircraft on the Vilanculos route, and the current timetable and operations will continue as normal.

 Federal Air flies more daily direct flights from Johannesburg to Vilanculos International Airport than any other airline.