Due to severe financial crisis , Comair was forced to suspend all British Airways and kulula.com flights , effective 1st June 2022 , as per a sudden announcement , few hours before the effectivity.
It had released to media,
"Comair regrets to advise its flights have been voluntarily suspended from 1 Jun pending securing funding to resume operations.If your flight has been cancelled,please don't travel to airport unless you have alternative arrangements. Our heartfelt apologies for the inconvenience"
Comair, notably the oldest airline of South Africa , is in the process of liquidation after its has filed for bankruptcy now . Reports suggest, Comair will stop operations permanently after the company failed to secure funding to remain airborne.
Comair Limited was operating scheduled services on domestic routes as a British Airways franchisee. It also operated as a low-cost carrier under its own kulula.com brand. But , the carrier was severely impacted by the global COVID-19 pandemic and travel restrictions.
Comair , whose liquidation could leave Comair’s 1,200 employees jobless , says that the red-listing of South Africa for the deadly variant during the pandemic was one of the primary causes for the permanent grounding.
Secondarily , Comair believes, high fuel (ATF) prices and the temporary suspension of its license by civil aviation were among other reasons for the downfall.
On 12th March , Operating license Comair had been suspended for 24 hours. The development followed numerous reports of safety incidents , including engine failures and landing gear malfunctions , as per the Civil Aviation Authority of South Africa.
Civil Aviation Authority of South Africa said ,
"If Comair wants to resume flights on Sunday, they'll need to spend the next 24 hours proving to the authority that they've taken measures to improve their safety and risk management."
The effect of Liquidation on the local industry could be dire , because Comair supplied about 40% of the domestic seat capacity.
“We did our utmost to secure the funding, but when we were unable to do so had no option to lodge the application,” said Richard Ferguson, the company’s business rescue practitioner, (BRP) a category of lawyer hired as administrators to save a company from liquidation, in a statement. “It is an extremely sad day for the company, its employees, its customers and South African aviation.”
Earlier , Comair , which also operates Kulula brand, had entered into business rescue over two years ago , but this time it was too big an ask , with no investors coming forward to pump the capital needed .
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) reacted in much the same way saying its members are shocked , angry and feel betrayed.
“They feel betrayed because they fought with all they had to keep the airline in the sky. For more than two years, they were not paid their salaries in full because they were told this would ensure the airline’s survival. Comair was founded in 1943."
"It is a viable business which has over 40 percent share of the aviation market. It is facing collapse simply because it was mismanaged by Richard Ferguson, the BRP and the CEO Glenn Orsmond”, NUMSA said in a statement.
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Comair Routes for British Airways and as Kulula.com
As Comair liquidation goes to next stage , travellers who had booked tickets through British Airways are protected through the franchisor. But, Kulula's customers have to wait , Apparently , Comair will allow the employees and customers with bookings or pending refunds to become creditors of the airline.
Comair’s exodus creates an opportunity for international carriers to enter the domestic market to fill the gap , but till such time a lower domestic capacity will definitely be going to hunt the flyers.
