South Africa

South Africa’s largest airline keeps its wings – for now

South Africa’s largest airline, FlySafair, was given a year to comply with local ownership laws or risk having its license suspended.

If the carrier fails to comply within the deadline of 12 months from January 23, it will be required to appear before the Domestic Air Services Council to justify why its license should not be suspended or revoked, the Department of Transport said in a statement on Wednesday. 

FlySafair also has to submit a term sheet detailing its milestones and compliance plan within 14 days and provide monthly updates to the council. 

The council found in December that FlySafair doesn’t comply with local ownership laws because 75% of the airline’s voting rights are held by South African trusts and companies and not people.

That followed a complaint by domestic carrier Lift’s owner, Global Airways Operations.

Grounding the airline, which controls 60% of the domestic market and carries an average of 30,000 passengers using 34 aircraft per day, could leave hundreds of thousands of people stranded.

South Africa’s aviation industry has suffered a number of setbacks in recent years, including the lengthy bankruptcy proceedings and downsizing of South African Airways, the loss of state-owned carrier Mango and the collapse of Comair in 2022. 

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