The North Gauteng High Court has granted an interdict preventing Safair’s new low-cost airline, FlySafair, from starting flights between Johannesburg and Cape Town on October 17.
But thousands of passengers who had already booked flights with FlySafair were in no danger of losing their money, Safair chief executive Dave Andrew said yesterday.
He said that the court had ordered Comair, which applied for the interdict, to accommodate passengers with flights at the same price they had paid, on the day that they had arranged to fly.
Safair had arranged with the major banks that passengers who wanted to cancel their bookings instead of postponing their flights would be refunded.
Andrew said he was confident that the matter would be resolved in Safair’s favour and it would be allowed to start its airline. The board was considering all available options.
He said that the Air Services Licensing Council had agreed in August that Safair met all the regulations under the Air Services Licensing Act of 1990.
But the court had ruled that Safair’s competition should have the opportunity to have the council’s decision reconsidered, “contrary to our expectations”, he said.
Meanwhile, he pointed out, the benefit for passengers was that as a result of Safair’s preparations, a number of cheaper tickets on the route had become available and Comair would have to honour them, as ordered by the court.
Admitting that while the court’s decision was a setback for FlySafair, he said he was confident these difficulties could be overcome.
Safair looked forward to providing a new alternative carrier to ensure lower prices on the route in future and more competition.
He said Safair had “a duty to the thousands of passengers who have booked with us and, as importantly, to the 300 employees whose lives will be affected by the court’s decision”.
Comair’s objection to the launch of FlySafair is based on a claim that Safair is foreign owned by Irish group ASL Aviation and that three South African directors with 75 percent of the voting rights on FlySafair are fronting for ASL. This is denied by Andrew.
He insisted that Safair Operations, which owns and operates FlySafair, had a 75 percent South African shareholding in accordance with the Air Services Licensing Act.
The remaining 25 percent of voting rights in Safair Operations was owned by Safair Operations Ireland, which was wholly owned by the ASL Aviation group.
However, Erik Venter, the chief executive of Comair, claims that the three South African directors who have 75 percent of the voting rights on the South African operation are merely fronting for the Irish group because they own their shares only as long as they remain with the company and receive no dividends.
Air fares on the Johannesburg to Cape Town route soared when low-cost airline 1time went out of business late last year, leaving the route to Comair and SAA and their low-cost divisions, kulula.com and Mango.
FlySafair began to sell tickets on the internet at lower prices in readiness for its planned launch and attracted an enthusiastic response.
Comair was joined in its application for an interdict by the founders of 1time, Glenn Orsmond and Rodney James. They and Johan Borstlap, the chief executive of the original Sun Air, plan to launch another low-cost airline, Flywise, on the route shortly. They have leased two Boeing aircraft to start their operation.
1time had a loyal customer base and 15 percent of the domestic market when it ran into trouble when fuel prices soared.
The defunct Sun Air, which attracted a large share of the market, was described as providing business class service at economy prices.