BA franchisee Comair – License Suspended

Back to Forum
Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 32 total)

  • SimonS1
    Participant

    All domestic BA and Kulula flights in South Africa cancelled as their license is suspended by CAA.


    SimonS1
    Participant

    From Twitter.


    SimonS1
    Participant

    Update: license suspended for safety reasons. Apparently there have been 3 mid air emergencies in the last month.

    20220312_180120


    SouthernOcean
    Participant

    No reason given, but Comair believes the suspension is unjustified.

    BA and Kulula flights grounded


    SimonS1
    Participant

    [postquote quote=1206065]

    No reason given by Comair but the CAA announcement made clear it was for safety reasons.

    The suspension has now changed from 24 hours to indefinite.


    SimonS1
    Participant

    Some of the recent events have been published on other websites.

    8/2/22 – TCAS alert at Lanseria

    10/2/22 – Engine failure Lanseria

    20/2/22 – Gear failure East London

    10/3/22 – Engine failure Lanseria

    Not a great record….


    transtraxman
    Participant

    “South African CAA grounds Comair citing safety concerns”, (ch-aviation 14-03-22)
    There are three paragraphs which stand out……

    “Comair Chief Executive Officer Glenn Orsmond …….. earlier told ch-aviation that Comair would be moving its maintenance from South African Airways’s subsidiary SAA Technical to Lufthansa Technik.” If these events happened under the the contract with SAA Technical then that company should have a lot to answer for.

    “…(the suspension) effectively takes 40% of the capacity out of the market. The implications for the aviation sector and the country are considerable should the suspension continue for any length of time.” The moot question is who fills the gap left?

    “The SACAA’s reputation took a knock in recent years when it was found to have contravened its own aviation regulations before the crash of its Cessna S550, ZS-CAR (msn S550-0078), in January 2020. Amongst other things, South Africa’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AIIB) found the aircraft was not maintained properly, rendering its certificate of airworthiness invalid.” So is the agency now trying to make an example of any infringer of norms?

    As an extension of these points I would like to say the following. It would be interesting to see comparable results between Comair (in both its guises) and its competitors, SAA and Airlink especially. If Comair´s errors are exceptional then fine suspend the airline. If, on the other hand, they are similar to those of the competition then I would suspect that there might well be a campaign to denigrate Comair to try and put it out of business.

    I have been around too long to accept that everything is transparent.

    1 user thanked author for this post.

    transtraxman
    Participant

    This is the link I did not put in the previous post.
    “South African CAA grounds Comair citing safety concerns” (ch-aviation, 14-03-22)

    https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news/113454-south-african-caa-grounds-comair-citing-safety-concerns


    transtraxman
    Participant

    It is good news to see this article today.
    “S Africa’s Comair resumes flights after safety all-clear,” (ch-aviation 16-03-22)
    The fact that the matter has been resolved so quickly is comforting.

    https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news/113658-s-africas-comair-resumes-flights-after-safety-all-clear


    phongvan
    Participant

    Engine failure is almost the worst fault of the plane, it is not clear what the technical staff of BA did


    cwoodward
    Participant

    To me this whole episode reeks of political interference, bribery and and involvement of third party players.
    Nothing here seems at all transparent to me (I lived in SA for some years) – all in all a very African scenario.


    Oceanair
    Participant

    Comair regrets to advise that its flights have been voluntarily suspended from 1 June pending successfully securing additional funding to resume operations. If your flight has been cancelled, please do not travel to the airport unless you have been able to make alternative arrangements. Our heartfelt apologies for the inconvenience.

    As of 1 June 2022


    cwoodward
    Participant

    The ownership of the Comair group that claims a 40% market share of the SA domestic market changed late last year and it is now owned by CRC (Comair Rescue Corporation whose owners appear to be previous investors and directors. They signalled a couple of months back that they would need to secure more funding in order to see through the “rescue”.

    According to a spokesman the financial package is almost in place and they expect resume operations in the near future. American investors are rumoured but time will tell!


    openfly
    Participant

    Get all the Comair crews and aircraft up to LHR as soon as possible! Aircraft and crews in BA colours ready to operate the cancelled BA flights…Simples! It might also save Comair for South Africa as well….


    LuganoPirate
    Participant

    Kulula have become so unreliable lately that we no longer use them. Safair and Airlink are much more reliable and comfortable.
    I also read that Comair have now sold all their lounges, so yet another service degradation.

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 32 total)
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Business Traveller March 2024 edition
Business Traveller March 2024 edition
Be up-to-date
Magazine Subscription
To see our latest subscription offers for Business Traveller editions worldwide, click on the Subscribe & Save link below
Polls