Comair’s CEO resigned on Monday, seven months into the job and on the eve of the company’s return to the aviation industry after emerging out of business rescue.
Wrenelle Stander took over in March when the Covid-19 pandemic coincided with a weakening operational performance, forcing the airline to file a form of bankruptcy protection that allowed it to delay creditor claims against it or its assets.
Her resignation comes as the company prepares to take to the skies again on Tuesday after a group of investors including former directors, injected R500m in exchange for virtually all of the company.
It will not affect the airline’s plans to resume operations as it is part of the new investor group’s plan to inject fresh blood into one of the icons of the SA aviation industry.
The company said Glenn Orsmond, a former joint CEO with Stander before the group ditched that model in 2019, is the new CEO. Kirsten King returns as CFO.
The management shake-up is part of the consortium’s plan to reverse the company’s slide and includes securing an additional R1.4bn funding from lenders and cutting 400 jobs. The group of investors includes former Comair directors Martin Moritz, Pieter van Hoven and Rodney Sacks, and an investment vehicle, Luthier Capital.
In a letter to staff, Stander expressed confidence in the future of the airline. “I think Comair is a great company and firmly believe that it will return to be a major player in the SA airline industry,” she said.
Even though lockdown restrictions have been lifted, Orsmond is taking the helm at a time when the industry is forecast to suffer steep losses amid lingering fears of Covid-19 infection while companies remain largely comfortable in using an array of online video conference platforms for business meetings.
Airlines are on track to lose $157bn in 2020 and 2021, the International Air Transport Association said last week, downgrading its industry outlook in response to a second wave of Covid-19 infections and shutdowns afflicting major markets. In June, the industry body forecast R100bn in losses for the two-year period.
The aviation slump has left companies on the verge of collapse overseas and in SA, where there are eight players.
But Comair will be returning in better shape because it has left behind some of its heavy financial luggage: employee costs, debt repayments and aircraft orders. It has shed almost three-quarters of its debt load, which gobbled up R332m in interest costs, or nearly half of its 2018 operating profit, and will have 18% fewer workers than when it entered the crisis.
Stander, who has held the positions of deputy CEO of the SA Civil Aviation Authority and MD of Air Traffic and Navigation Services, said she hoped to return to play a role in the industry in the new year. She has also led a team at a Sasol gas unit that completed a pipeline expansion project in Mozambique.
With Siseko Njobeni
Update: November 30
This story has been updated with new information throughout.
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