Comair

South African airline Comair has failed to secure the necessary funding to pull it out of financial straits, and its business rescue practitioners (BRPs) ...

“Accordingly, the company’s joint business rescue practitioners give notice herewith that they no longer believe that there is a reasonable prospect that the company can be rescued,” the BRPs said. The airline resumed flights in December 2020 while still in business rescue. South African airline Comair has failed to secure the necessary funding to pull it out of financial straits, and its business rescue practitioners (BRPs) say there is no longer any reasonable prospect that the company can be rescued.

Comair business rescue practitioners have lodged a court application to convert the company's business rescue process into liquidation proceedings after not ...

It is an extremely sad day for the company, its employees, its customers and South African aviation,” the Comair rescue practitioners, Ferguson and Hablutzel, said in a media statement. In a liquidation process, creditors (such as suppliers, customers and staff) often don’t get the full amounts that they are owed. The funding problems at Comair pushed its rescue practitioners to ground Kulula and British Airways flights at the 11th hour on 1 June, inconveniencing customers who already booked tickets but couldn’t fly. This means that after nearly 80 years of operating in South Africa’s aviation industry, Comair is likely to permanently close its doors because its two-year-long business rescue process failed to rehabilitate the company. Comair will be the third airline to disappear from the skies over the past two years, further lessening competition in the local aviation industry. Additional funding of R1.4-billion has also been secured from commercial banks.

Comair's business rescue practitioners (BRP) have lodged a court application to liquidate the airline after they failed to raise the funding needed to save ...

This shocked customers who just hours before the announcement were purchasing flight tickets at discounted prices. Comair was listed on the JSE for many years and was once regarded as one of SA’s most profitable airline groups. It is an extremely sad day for the company, its employees, its customers and South African aviation,” says BRP Richard Ferguson.

Although the latest notice does not mention liquidation, the BRPs did indicate on Tuesday that, if fundraising efforts were not successful, the next step would ...

The loss of Comair is an indictment on the state of the SA economy and needs urgent attention." We will do everything possible to support our members and keep them informed of the process going forward. It already had one delivered when a worldwide grounding of the planes was declared between March 2019 and December 2020 following two fatal crashes.

Cape Town - Embattled airline Comair has announced its business rescue practitioners (BRPs) on Thursday lodged a court application to convert the business ...

In the circumstances, the BRPs approached other lenders to raise the funding required. It’s an extremely sad day for the company, its employees, its customers and South African aviation,” Ferguson said. One of the BRPs, Richard Ferguson, said with its two airline brands – British Airways, operated by Comair, and kulula.com, market share, modern aircraft fleet, experienced employees, sales and distributions channels, Comair was an inherently viable business.

Between June and December 2022, Cirium data shows that South Africa planned over 79,000 domestic flights. However, the loss of Comair and kulula means that'll ...

The pair will have 85% of South Africa's domestic market, effectively creating a duopoly. As Comair and kulula operated larger narrowbodies – mainly the B737-800 but also the older iteration, the B737-400 – their end means a drop of 3.2 million domestic seats. SAA still only has two domestic routes: the core markets of Johannesburg to Cape Town and Durban. A quarter of the country's domestic flights will go, although able competitors may be reasonably quick to pick up some of the pieces. The end has come for South Africa's Comair and its lower-cost subsidiary, kulula. However, the loss of Comair and kulula means that'll fall to 60,000, down by 19,000.

The airline operator's business rescue practitioners (BRP) confirmed this on Thursday, citing a lack of funding. Comair - whose subsidiaries are Kulula.com and ...

The workers were told that the company was yet to secure an investor and could face liquidation in a matter of weeks. Comair - whose subsidiaries are Kulula.com and British Airways - had been on the cusp of liquidation due to cashflow challenges. The airline operator had been on the cusp of liquidation due to cashflow challenges.

The news that Comair's BRPs have had to apply for provisional liquidation on Thursday was met with reactions of sadness, shock, but also some ...

Bruce Whitfield interviews Oz Desai, General Manager of business travel specialists Corporate Traveller.

You're ultimately left with a handful of airlines which are a lot more stable and have been flying consistently. If you paid by card you could get a chargeback. It's going to be ultimately up to the key players to look at their capability to get additional aircraft, but it also needs to make financial sense to them...Oz Desai, General Manager - Corporate Traveller What you could do is lodge it with your financial institution... The pending liquidation of Comair is a blow for the local tourism industry. Comair collapse a blow for tourism recovery - 40% of local seat capacity lost

So why would a 'rescue consortium' and existing lenders want to invest over R1 billion in this business in the first place? One could start a new airline from ...

The key is in the (almost amateurish) financial projections in the business rescue plan. Of course, Comair would’ve had to deal with the consequences of this current environment. No one could’ve predicted any of this, but it is highly unusual to see the same assumptions being made year after year and accepted as bankable. This juicy licence from BA, where it pays about 9% in royalties plus additional costs such as catering, was arguably the base of this entire rescue. Not only did Comair have R120 million in retrenchment costs, it had over R200 million due to both the International Air Transport Association (Iata) and fuel suppliers in deposits. Take those expenses into account, and the group’s net profit would be R711 million. FlySafair, Airlink, and Cemair continue to add routes and frequencies and are, surely, all trading profitably. Here we see that in 2023 – the first normal trading year of the ‘new’ Comair – revenue would be R7.9 billion. This could “not be secured”. That money committed by lenders and funders was rapidly absorbed. Orsmond, it must be remembered, was a senior executive at Sun Air (liquidated), co-founder of 1time (liquidated), one of the founders of Skywise (ostensibly liquidated), and now CEO of Comair (to be liquidated). Reading between the lines of the report and the media statement (which was nearly double the length of the report), this appears to be the course of events in recent months:

Business rescue practitioners (BRP) of the battling firm, which operates British Airways and kalula.com flights, yesterday lodged a court application to ...

The airline has been under business rescue for possibly the longest time in South African history but Richard Ferguson failed to implement a strategy to keep the business viable,” Numsa further stated. We did our utmost to secure the funding, but when we were unable to do so had no option to lodge the application. “That way whilst the airline is not operating, workers can at least earn some kind of salary while training. Mojapele said, “It was wrong to use the last of its money to upgrade the fleet with those Boeing 737. Comair was a formidable competitor and I am certain many of its employees will find new homes in the other carriers as they in turn expand. Aaron Munetsi, the CEO of the Airlines Association of Southern Africa (Aasa), said, “Aasa notes with sadness the Comair liquidation announcement.

The airline announced on Thursday that its business rescue practitioners no longer believed that there was a reasonable prospect that the company could be ...

The airline announced on Thursday that its business rescue practitioners no longer believed that there was a reasonable prospect that the company could be rescued. The airline announced on Thursday that its business rescue practitioners no longer believed that there was a reasonable prospect that the company could be rescued.

The airline operator announced its been grounded for good as business rescue practitioners launched a court bid to have Comair liquidated.

It is obviously an extremely sad day for the company, its employees, customers and the South African aviation industry.” The airline was totally mismanaged to the point of collapse." However, Comair is a perfect example that this is simply not true.

Comair, which operates Kulula.com and is the domestic partner for British Airways in South Africa, cancelled all flights on 1 June, less than three months after ...

For any affected Vitality member who booked a discounted flight that has been cancelled, Discovery Bank will automatically refund them into their Discovery Bank account by close of business tomorrow.” It is devastating for Comair’s passengers, staff and partners, as well as for the travel sector”. This refund process is automatic, so no action is required from members,” the financial services company said in a note to customers.

Its business rescue practitioners (BRPs), Richard Ferguson and Neil Hablutzel, yesterday pulled the plug on any further attempts to rescue the stricken airline, ...

In liquidations, creditors are usually paid first with liquidation proceeds, with shareholders usually last in the line to receive a return. The BRPs said yesterday the additional funding could not be raised. The BRPs drew up a scenario plan for Comair’s liquidation in 2020, and the value of its assets at that time was about R7.47 billion, with some R7.2bn of that comprising aircraft and related equipment, excluding depreciation. Its biggest secured creditors in 2020 were Nedbank, which was owed R1.34bn. Citibank was owed R583m, Absa was owed R331m, Investec some R556m, while the SA Revenue Service was owed R383m. Total claims against the company at that time came to R7.78bn. It suspended flights in March this year. The owners had been trying to raise about R100 million to make up for loss of revenue due to travel bans to South Africa in the wake of the Omicron Covid-19 variant’s effects, and due to the impact of rising fuel prices on the airline.

Union said their members were shocked, angry and felt betrayed after Comair's business rescue practitioners announced that the company would be liquidated.

The airline was totally mismanaged to the point of collapse, and the most painful thing is that more than 1200 workers will pay the highest price for their failure,” Numsa went on to state. They did not make an effort to save the business, and through their actions, Ferguson and Orsmond have destroyed the airline. It had only recently restarted and would now face extra pressure for other airlines to take up routes and move citizens and vital tourists needing carriage around this country. “It is also very clear that the entire business rescue process was a sham. It is a viable business which has over 40% share of the aviation market. Numsa said: “They feel betrayed because they fought with all they had to keep the airline in the sky.

It's a lot, it's heartbreaking, it's overwhelming and sad. Comair was like my home, but I also believe God has bigger plans for me,” says Jamain Doravaloo ...

Comair was founded in 1943, it is a viable business which has more than 40% share of the aviation market,” Numsa said. “They feel betrayed because they fought with all they had to keep the airline in the sky. In the meantime, he and his family will try to cut back on expenditure. “The culture, the benefits, I have never been in a company that values their staff like Comair. For me, it was like a family, because we spent most of our time at work. One of three siblings, Doravaloo has updated his CV and is hopeful he will secure a new job in the aviation sector. “The pension fund is a separate company.