The encyclopedia · Strategy & Leadership · Operational decision · 2020–2022
Comair flew BA and kulula.com for 75 years — then COVID grounded it for good
South Africa’s oldest independent airline operated British Airways’ domestic network and its own kulula.com. It never flew again after COVID.
Comair · British Airways · 2022-06-09
What happened
Comair was founded in 1946 and became South Africa’s oldest independent airline. It operated domestic and regional flights under a British Airways franchise agreement and also owned kulula.com, South Africa’s first low-cost carrier. At its peak, Comair carried millions of passengers annually and was listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
When COVID-19 grounded global aviation in March 2020, Comair’s revenue collapsed. The company entered voluntary business rescue on 5 May 2020. It obtained ZAR 100 million in emergency loans and restructured its debt, but the recovery never came. By 2021, Comair was delisted from the JSE. The airline burned through its rescue funding while passenger demand remained far below pre-pandemic levels.
On 31 May 2022, Comair suspended all flights. On 9 June 2022, the business rescue practitioners concluded there was no reasonable prospect of rescue, and the company was placed into liquidation. Approximately 2,000 employees lost their jobs. The collapse of Comair ended the British Airways franchise in South Africa and left kulula.com’s loyal customer base stranded.
Why it happened
- Comair was a domestic airline in a country with a small aviation market. When COVID hit, not enough passengers existed to sustain two carriers — Comair and SAA — and Comair lost the survival race.
- The business rescue bought time but did not fix the underlying problem. Comair emerged from rescue in 2021 only to find that demand had not returned and fuel costs had risen.
- Comair had no financial cushion. It operated on thin margins even in good years, and the pandemic wiped out its equity, leaving it dependent on emergency loans that could not sustain a long recovery.
The lesson
A business rescue that saves the company on paper but does not restore its revenue is not a rescue — it is a delay. Comair was saved twice and failed twice for the same reason: no passengers.
Sources
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