Comair could relook investment in SA

COMAIR ceo Erik Venter
has warned that if the court
rules in favour of SAA in
its current legal battle, the
airline will be forced relook
its investments in South
Africa.
Comair has taken SAA
to court questioning
the constitutionality of
government’s bailouts of the
national carrier (see TNW
May 13).
Erik told TNW the airline
would not consider pulling
out of South Africa entirely.
However, “when making
investments in aircraft, we
would have to consider the
risk of not being able to rely
on government complying
with its own policy and
legislation,” he said.
If, in turn, the court rules
in favour of Comair, this
could have far-reaching
implications for SAA.
Three South African banks
– Nedbank, Standard
Bank and Citibank –
submitted affidavits on
the grounds that if Comair
was successful and the
extension of the guarantee
was declared invalid, then
their loans to SAA would be
at risk.