Sisulu worried Comair's grounding will negatively affect tourism

Tourism minister Lindiwe Sisulu has bemoaned Comair's latest crisis that led to the voluntarily suspension of its British Airways and Kulula flights.

Four out of every 10 domestic tickets sold in SA are BA or Kulula tickets, Sunday Times Daily reported this week.

The airline grounded its flights from Wednesday, saying it was necessary to secure funding to continue with its operations.

Sisulu said the timing of this was not ideal, and expressed her concern about the effect it would have on the tourism sector which is still recovering after being rattled by Covid-19 restrictions and travel bans that threatened to cripple the industry. 

“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 SA. However, our main concern is the effect this will have on tourism,”  Sisulu said.

“Domestic travel contributed positively to demand in the Covid-19 period, driven by campaigns and pricing targeted for our domestic market. This was positive and helped create better understanding within the market and through this exposure propelled the market to diversify its offerings.

“Global tourism is rebounding despite lingering Covid-19 restrictions and the effects of the conflict in Ukraine, but tourist arrival numbers are not back to pre-pandemic levels. The pace of recovery is slow and uneven across world regions, and this is due to varying degrees of mobility restrictions, vaccination rates, and traveller confidence,” Sisulu added.

With stranded passengers expected to turn to other airlines, the Competition Commission on Wednesday said it was “meeting with the leadership of the competing airlines to engage them on the implications of Comair’s decision to suspend British Airways and Kulula flights.”

Comair has apologised to its customers and explained the move was necessary.

In a statement the airline said: “The company’s business rescue practitioners (BRPs) have advised the process to raise the necessary capital is in progress and there is reason to believe such funding may be secured. Once received, the airline will be able to recommence operations, but regrettably under these circumstances the practitioners have no choice but to voluntarily suspend all scheduled flights until the funding is confirmed.”

The airline said its ticket sales had been suspended with immediate effect.

Comair CEO Glenn Orsmond said: “We deeply regret the inconvenience this suspension will cause our customers. We did everything we could to avoid it. Comair, the BRPs and the lenders are working all out to get the funding in place so we can resume our normal flight schedule as soon as possible.”

He was optimistic Comair’s financial woes would soon be resolved.

The airline's apology, however, provided little comfort to customers, some of whom expressed their frustration that refunds for their tickets would not be immediately available. 

Others criticised the airline for “tricking” customers. This after Kulula had announced a 30% sale on airline tickets hours before announcing it was suspending operations. 

Comair is yet to give an update on when its operations will resume.  

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