A local aviation industry body, which represents all major carriers in SA and the region, says it is confident that the safety issues that led to the grounding of Comair, the operator of British Airways (BA) in the country and Kulula, will be resolved soon.
Aaron Munetsi, CEO of the Airlines Association of Southern Africa, said the association’s members have always made it a point that safety is non-negotiable. He said the local aviation industry, which has been hard hit by Covid-19, is resilient and has been able to fill the gap after Comair’s grounding.
Local airlines have come under scrutiny after ticket prices skyrocketed this week after the grounding of Comair, a regional airline accounting for 40% of airline capacity.
“Comair contributes a substantive amount of capacity into the market. We are confident that Sacaa [the SA Civil Aviation Authority] and Comair will resolve the issues pertaining to the grounding,” Munetsi told Business Day.
Sacaa announced over the weekend that Comair was being grounded indefinitely until it addresses safety concerns including an engine and landing gear failure on some of its aircraft. The operator remained grounded on Wednesday and said this was “despite its best efforts” while engagements with the regulator continued.
Comair’s grounding will have contributed to a steep rise in ticket prices as demand rose ahead of a long weekend but with fewer seats available.
The Competition Commission this week warned airlines against exploiting consumers in the wake of Comair’s grounding. It said reports and complaints suggested that prices for seats on the remaining airlines had spiked, with some carriers quoting R5,000 for a single flight ticket from Johannesburg to Cape Town.
“While the commission understands that the removal of airlines certainly does have an impact on airfares, the situation that stranded passengers find themselves in should not be unduly exploited by other airlines,” commission spokesperson Sipho Ngwema said.
“The commission encourages all airlines to put more capacity into the market where possible until the Comair situation has been resolved in order to assist stranded passengers at more moderate prices.”
Ngwema said if it was found that airlines removed seats from low-fare buckets and allocated them to higher priced fare buckets or introduced much higher fare buckets on popular routes, the commission would consider this as price gouging designed to deliberately exploit the current situation.
Kirby Gordon, the chief marketing officer of domestic low-cost carrier FlySafair, said the airline’s pricing has not changed.
“Our price points have not changed since they [Sacaa] announced the suspension of Comair’s air operator certificate. Our flights are, however, full as a result of 40% of the available seats in the market being removed as of Sunday,” Gordon said.
He said this means that passengers who meant to fly with Comair are now being accommodated on FlySafair flights. This was being done at a mutually negotiated fixed rate with Comair that is below the market price.
“In addition, FlySafair and other airlines are doing everything we can to meet the needs of our customers. This includes increasing flight frequencies on in-demand routes and ensuring our call-centre staff are prepared to answer customer queries.”
Rodger Foster, MD and CEO of Gauteng-based regional airline Airlink, said the airline fully supports fair competition and economic sustainability.
He said Comair’s suspension and the Competition Commission’s announcement come when there is already reduced capacity in the market as airlines are rebuilding after the pandemic and its associated travel restrictions, many of which remain in place and continue to promote travel hesitancy.
“They also coincide with the Ukraine crisis, which has triggered a more than 40% spike in oil and jet fuel prices in the past month. As a result of these factors, Airlink, like any responsible business, closely matches its capacity to demand, but it has not adjusted its fares since November, which was to cover the 100% increase in the price of jet fuel last year,” Foster said.
He said, however, when 40% of the market capacity is suddenly withdrawn, it creates increased demand on the remaining available inventory.
“Once all of the lowest fare seats have been sold on direct flights between destinations, availability shifts to higher priced seats that offer enhanced benefits — such as greater rebooking flexibility, cancellation terms or a different cabin class — until the only seats available are at the full fare offering maximum benefits, until these too have been taken up by demand.”
Forster said when all direct flights are fully booked, the only remaining alternatives typically involve indirect routings via intermediate points, and this is more expensive.
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