Comair liquidation ‘a sad day for employees’, says Numsa

This comes after the High Court in Johannesburg granted Comair’s application for provisional liquidation.

The airline, which operates Kulula and British Airways in South Africa argued in the court papers that it no longer has the financial capital to cover operational costs of the airline.

The company grounded its planes on 1 June due to a lack of funding.

It has been under business rescue since 2020 due to its inability to repay debts.

The business rescue practitioners’ Richard Ferguson said the airline can longer afford to pay aircraft storage, maintenance, and insurance costs.

Numsa spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola says the union will see the liquidation process through to ensure that workers get what's due to them.

“It is indeed a very sad day that this incident is happening, it is a reflection of the death of an airline. An airline which came into existence in the 1940 and it is very painful that this airline is now being wound down.

“It is our view that this once viable airline that was the pride of South Africa has been brought down by the mismanagement of the business rescue practitioner and the CEO. They destroyed this airline and the fact that it is being liquidated under their watch they are like an undertaker knocking the nail into the coffin.”

“We have to see the process through, and we will have to watch the process unfold,” says Hlubi-Majola.

All affected parties have until 26 July to object the liquidation.

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