John Lamola, SAA's interim CEO and chairperson is reported to have confirmed to Fin 24 that he is currently in discussions with British Airways on the possibility of SAA taking on a BA franchise agreement in South Africa, along the lines of the previous one held by Comair before its demise.
BA Comair, as the franchise was known locally, was a full-service domestic carrier responsible for a large chunk of internal flights in the country and was a popular brand among South Africans. It was an important player in inbound tourism, enabling tourists to book flights from London to a wide set of destinations in Southern Africa. Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, East London and Gqeberha had services. BA Comair also provided services from Johannesburg to Mauritius, Livingstone, Vic Falls, Harare and Windhoek. As a full-service carrier like its parent British Airways, it offered meals onboard and a shared a loyalty programme with British Airways.
Fin24 reported that Lamola had said that that the regulatory process for the purchase by the Takatso Consortium of 51% of SAA was still underway, but that consortium was not yet part of the decision-making process of the airline.
South Africa would benefit enormously by having another player in the market with its own set of aircraft - currently the SA market is underserved after the collapse of Comair which, between its two carriers (the BA franchise BA Comair and its low-cost carrier, kulula.com), held around 40% of the seats in the market.
