THE demise of Fly Blue Crane is on the
cards, industry experts say.
Earlier this month, the airline’s
business rescue practitioner, Etienne
Naude, said the airline had decided
not to operate until the business
rescue process had been completed.
He said the decision would allow the
airline to restructure its operations,
reach critical agreements and finetune
its schedules. In a statement, he
said he had requested an extension
from Fly Blue Crane’s creditors on the
presentation of the proposed business
rescue plan. The plan, Etienne said,
would be presented in the next few
weeks after a few loose ends were
“tied up”. The airline entered business
rescue proceedings on November 14,
2016.
However, sources on industry forum,
AvCom, have reported that most of Fly
Blue Crane’s contracts for staff have
not been renewed. “Airport staff have
been instructed to remain at home and
wait for the airline to contact them.
Only supervisory staff are reporting for
duty,” one aviation specialist said.
Fly Blue Crane’s Iata licence has
also been suspended with immediate
effect, and travel agents have been
advised to settle all outstanding
billings, including pending sales and
refund claims directly with the airline.
Spokesperson of Iata, Linden Birns,
told TNW the suspension
of the airline from BSP was
standard industry practice
when a carrier suspended its
scheduled operations.
But travel consultants say
Fly Blue Crane will battle to
regain consumer confidence
after it suspended its
services.
A Kimberley Flight Centre
consultant told TNW that,
even before the airline
suspended its services,
clients preferred to book
SAA and SAX. “Clients were
often not advised of delays
or cancellations, arriving
at the airport to find their
flight would not be departing
or departing later than
scheduled,” she said.
Corporate travellers to
Kimberley report that flights
have been quite empty for
some time. Ros Crossingham,
a regular business traveller to
Kimberley who works in the
diamond industry, told TNW
she flew Fly Blue Crane twice
and enjoyed the experience.
However, she added: “The
next time I wanted to book
the airline, it wasn’t flying
any more. The staff were
very nice, but the flights were
quite empty.”
Other industry experts have
questioned the decision
to temporarily ground the
airline. One business rescue
practitioner, who spoke on
condition of anonymity, said
cancelling Fly Blue Crane’s
flights “took away the
lifeblood of the company”
as clients would not be able
to book flights, which in turn
could impact the success of
the company.
