NUMSA is requesting that the Air Service Council reverse the decision to suspend Comair’s licence
17 October 2022
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) has written a letter to the International Air Service Council (IASC), where we raise our concerns about the decision to suspend Comair’s licence on a number of issues. What is concerning us is that it seems the suspension of the services licence is based on the fact that the IASC says they were not informed by the Business Rescue Practitioners that Comair was no longer in business rescue, but had been placed under provisional liquidation on June 28. The Council found out officially that Comair was under provisional liquidation at the meeting the liquidators had with them on the 6th of October. The liquidators informed the Council of their intention to sell the airline as a going concern, despite it having been placed under provisional liquidation.
It is our considered view that the regulator should reconsider this decision. The decision to suspend the licence has placed Comair’s future at great risk because it is unlikely that a buyer will purchase the airline when it does not have this licence. Comair was placed under provisional liquidation on June 28. We returned to court on the 26th of July and the liquidators were given more time to find a buyer, and so the provisional liquidation was extended and not made permanent. We have until the 13th of December to secure a buyer because that is when we must return to court. Potential buyers have come forward, but some of them are threatening to pull out because the licence for Comair was suspended.
We are calling on the IASC to recognise that this issue will have a direct impact on 1500 workers at Comair and their families who will suddenly find themselves drowning in a sea of unemployment, because the airline was liquidated as a result of is failure to secure a buyer in time. Should these jobs be lost as a result of this decision, it will be partly be because of this decision.
There is a lot at stake. The aviation sector in South Africa is in a crisis. The cost of flying domestically has shot up because of the collapse of SA Express, the radical restructuring of SAA which has weakened it, Mango’s services have been suspended and now Comair’s future is in doubt. There are very few airlines and this is creating a situation of high demand, and unjustifiably high prices because there is no competition. This is another very good reason why this decision must be reversed.
We have sent an email to Andries Ntjane the Deputy Director of the (IASC) requesting to join the meeting which has been scheduled with the liquidators for the 1st of November to discuss the future of Comair. NUMSA wants to make submissions, because we want to save the airline, make it sustainable for the long term and save jobs.
Aluta continua!
The struggle continues!
Issued by Irvin Jim, NUMSA General Secretary, 17 October 2022
