(Ecofin Agency) – The impacts of Covid-19 are still visible in the finances and activity debits of several airlines. While some hope for an upcoming bailout and/or growth in traffic, others find themselves going into collective proceedings.
The liquidation process of Comair, a private airline in South Africa, might be set in motion following business rescue practitioners announced the failure of restructuring attempts started on March 5, 2020. The experts committed to its recovery filed Thursday, June 9, a request for justice to transform the rescue procedure into liquidation proceedings.
« We did our best to get the funding, but since we mightn’t, we had no choice but to apply. It is an extremely sad day for the company, its employees, its customers and the South African aviation said Richard Ferguson, one of the experts.
The company, once considered one of the most important South African carriers, announced on May 31, 2022 the suspension of all its flights and those of its low-cost subsidiary operating under the trade name kulula.com. Before this announcement, however, she had started flying once more when the Comair Rescue Consortium (CRC) invested 500 million rand for a 99% stake in the company.
Richard Ferguson explained that following this investment, the company faced unforeseen headwinds, namely three more Covid-19 containment measures, followed by the listing of South Africa. red of some European countries, especially the United Kingdom. These problems have been compounded by the suspension of the carrier’s air operator certificate (AOC) last March, as well as the dramatic rise in fuel prices in recent months.
