The franchise holder of British Airways branded flights in South Africa has been forced to ground flights after the airline ran out of money. In a statement, Comair said it had to suspend all operations on the evening of May 31, “pending successfully securing additional funding”.
Along with British Airways branded flights, Comair also owns and operates the Kulula brand.
“British Airways (operated by Comair) and kulula.com ticket sales have been suspended with immediate effect,” the airline said in a statement posted on the holding company website.
“We deeply regret the inconvenience this suspension will cause our customers. We did everything we could to avoid it,” commented chief executive Glenn Orsmond.
Comair entered a process known as Business Rescue in May 2020 after the pandemic decimated its business and the airline’s finances ran dry. So-called ‘Business rescue practitioners’ were appointed to oversee a reorganization and the airline restarted operations in December 2021.
The airline did, however, briefly suspend operations in March 2022 after South Africa’s aviation regulator grounded the airline over safety concerns. Operations were allowed to restart nearly a week later resulting in huge disruption for air passengers.
“Comair, the BRPs and the lenders are working all out to get the funding in place so that we can resume our normal flight schedule as soon as possible,” Orsmond said on Tuesday night.
“Comair is inherently a viable business,” he continued. “We have excellent staff, a modern fleet, good sales and distribution channels and low operating costs, which is why we believe the funding will be secured.”
I hope they get their act together soon as I have a flight from JNB-MRU in late October.