Cheap and cheerful flights may become a thing of the past as Comair crashes

Cheap and cheerful flights may become a thing of the past for budget-conscious South Africans. Yesterday, Comair suspended flights of its low-cost Kulula brand and British Airways.

The Competition Commission tried to convince competitors not to take advantage of the situation, but the days of cheap flights may be over for now. With Mango and Kulula gone, FlySafair is the last low-cost airline standing. At the time of publishing, airline fares had not changed.

Yet, like in March, when Comair was first grounded, prices rocketed the day after Kulula’s and BA’s aircraft were parked. Presently, consumers can also choose between hybrid carrier Lift and full service airlines Airlink and South African Airways. Smaller player Cemair offers limited connectivity.

It was not the regulator that prevented the Comair from flying this time, but its bank account. Until 10pm on Tuesday night, Kulula tickets were on sale with a 30% discount offered on flights. Just after midnight on Wednesday morning, the brand announced it would be suspending flights due to the lack of funds.

Chief executive Glen Orsmond said: “We had discussions late last night and decided that we could not continue operating.” He apologised to customers.

“We have a liquidity squeeze that built up over a period. Our stakeholders have been supportive all through that. It is just now we have reached a crunch time and we are working to try and resolve our liquidity problem.”

ALSO READ: Competition Commission meeting with other airlines over Comair grounding flights

He said the business was profitable. But right now, there was no cash flow. Orsmond admitted that Comair was facing a liquidity issue and company executives were in discussions with all stakeholders to resolve its challenges as soon as possible. He listed the Covid pandemic, the March grounding by civil aviation and the significant rise in fuel prices as primary actors in its present dilemma.

“We must produce a liquidity solution. We have a business that’s solvent. We have great brands.”

Orsmond was at OR Tambo International Airport yesterday morning in a show of support for staff and customers. The BA sales counter was open and passengers trickled in to seek resolution. Comair said in a statement that passengers should request refunds for now.

An elderly couple hovered around the Kulula check-in counters not knowing what to do next. The pair had used their pension money to pay for flights to Cape Town and were unable to afford rebooking on another carrier.

The passenger said: “We were told this morning that our Kulula flights would be rebooked on BA, but there’s nobody there [at check-in] either.”

Another passenger questioned whether Comair would be able to refund anyone at all, given that operations were suspended due to a lack of money.

Minister of Tourism Lindiwe Sisulu said: “This comes at a bad time as families are preparing for school holidays and some international holidaymakers are preparing to spend their summer holidays in South Africa. Our main concern is the effect this will have on tourism.”

“Domestic travel contributed positively to demand in the Covid period, driven by campaigns and pricing targeted at our domestic market. This was positive and helped create better understanding in the market and through this exposure, propelled the market to diversify its offerings.”

Sisulu also noted that global tourism was on the rebound, despite Covid restrictions and the war in Ukraine. Comair previously noted a measure of reliance on foreign travellers through its association with British Airways and various other codeshare agreements.

An emotional Orsmond shared with The Citizen how tough the past few months had been on Comair staff and noted his appreciation of continued customer support.

“It is about our passengers and about our staff. We have 1,250 wonderful staff. They rely on the airline. They provide a great service. They have been a rock of support through the past 18 months. We owe it to our people and we owe it to our passengers to get back in the sky.”

Comair has been in a period of extended business rescue since May 2020. Its first grounding in March saw both Kulula and BA spending five days on the ground while civil aviation authorities provided a window for the company to resolve documentation and audit trails in its safety management systems.

Comair resumed operations and recently launched charters to Zanzibar.

– news@citizen.co.za