Comair CEO Erik Venter has warned that if the court rules in favour of SAA in its current legal battle, the airline will be forced relook its investments in South Africa.

Comair has taken SAA to court questioning the constitutionality of government’s bailouts of the national carrier (see TNW May 13).

Venter told TNW the airline would not consider pulling out of South Africa entirely. However, “when making investments in aircraft, we would have to consider the risk of not being able to rely on government complying with its own policy and legislation,” he said.

If, in turn, the court rules in favour of Comair, this could have far-reaching implications for SAA. Three South African banks – Nedbank, Standard Bank and Citibank – submitted affidavits on the grounds that if Comair was successful and the extension of the guarantee was declared invalid, then their loans to SAA would be at risk.