British Airways South Africa & Kulula Likely Gone For Good And Liquidated

British Airways franchise in South Africa, Comair, which also flew under its Kulula brand, ceased operations on May 31, 2022 (read more here) due to a lack of funds.

The business rescue practitioners, a South African version of bankruptcy protection & reorganization, today stated that the fundraising efforts were unsuccessful, and there is no longer a case that the company (Comair) could be rescued.

You can access Comair here.

Statement from the business rescue practitioners:

Download (PDF, 321KB)

Excerpt from the News24:

The BRPs tasked the Comair Rescue Consortium (CRC), the current owner, to come up with a practical plan for continued operations by 31 May this year.

This included raising additional funding “to settle all financial obligations as they fall due in the ordinary course of business” and to negotiate with lenders about arrears amounts.

When this did not happen, the BRPs suspended all Comair’s kulula.com and British Airways (operated by Comair) flights on 1 June.

According to Jannem Goussard, organiser of the union Solidarity, they have been informed that an application for provisional liquidation of Comair has already been made and will be heard as an urgent matter on Tuesday 14 June.

Conclusion

It seems extremely unlikely that there would be British Airways or Kulula branded flights within South Africa after the collapse and likely liquidation of Comair, an airline founded in 1943 and which started charter operations in 1946.

It is always sad to see an old and established airline go under and cease operations, but it is good for the sector that weak and not well-funded operators fold.

Let’s hope that there is some competition left for flights within South Africa now that Comair is gone and South African Airways significantly curtailed its operations.