Airlines in dogfight over "South Africaness" Newly established FlySafair has hit back at objections launched by Comair to the Air Services Licensing Council claiming that the airline does not meet the requirement of a 25% limit of foreign ownership. In a statement sent to eTNW, Dave Andrew, ceo of FlySafair, was categoric that Safair met the air service licence requirement that at least 75% of its voting rights were held by South African residents. An article that appeared in Business Day yesterday , quoted Comair as saying that it had launched two objections against the grant of an air service licence. The first objection is that one of FlySafair’s directors, Hugh Flynn, is not ‘normally resident’ in South Africa as he resides in Ireland, although he travels to South Africa on a regular basis. The second objection raised by Comair is that Safair was a ‘front’ formed to enter the South African domestic market. Responding to the first objection, Dave said that Hugh, who holds 25% voting rights, was born and grew up in Germiston, Johannesburg. “He has always been involved in aviation and, aside from having served in the South African Air Force, currently holds a valid South African commercial pilot’s licence". Dave holds 25% of the voting rights in Safair Operations and grew up on the East Rand of Johannesburg. He held an Aircraft Maintenance Engineers License from the South African Civil Aviation Authority. After working as an Aircraft Instrument Maintenance Technician for another local airline, he joined Safair in 1990 as a senior project Planner Avionics. In November 2010, Dave took over the reins as ceo of Safair Operations. Elmar Conradie, Safair Operations’ and FlySafair’s chief financial officer, who also holds 25% of the voting rights in Safair Operations, was raised in Odendaalsrus, obtaining his Bachelors and Honours in Accounting from the University of Free State in 1996 before becoming a chartered accountant in 1998. After working for a number of well known South African financial institutions, he joined Safair in August 2005 and has served as the company’s CFO ever since. “On July 5, Comair Limited raised its objections about foreign ownership with the Air Services Licensing Council of South Africa, who considered and rejected the validity of their concerns. On August 23, FlySafair was subsequently granted permission to start its own domestic low-cost operation,” said Dave. “Safair agrees with the concept of a deregulated and competitive domestic airline industry where all airlines are required to comply with the applicable aviation legislation and to compete fairly and equally with one another for market share. It is for this reason that Safair Operations (Pty) Limited, which owns and operates low-cost carrier, FlySafair, has a 75% South African shareholding, in accordance with the Air Services Licensing Act.” The remaining 25% of the voting rights in Safair Operations (Pty) Limited is owned by Safair Aviation Ireland Limited, which in turn is wholly owned by the Irish ASL Aviation Group. “I believe that it is also pertinent to reiterate that Safair has had a 75% South African shareholding since 2009. No organisation or individual has ever questioned this structure before, so it is surprising that Comair Limited is raising objections now that we have announced the launch of a low-cost competitor, which will naturally challenge its kulula operation,” said Dave.
Posted on: Fri, 30 Aug 2013 06:21:04 +0000
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