FlySafair is determined to launch a low-cost service in SA’s domestic market. The airline has made changes to its shareholding and reapplied for a permit to operate scheduled passenger services, the Department of Transport has confirmed.
In October, a court interdict was granted in favour of Comair and Skywise, grounding FlySafair and raising questions about its ownership and original application. North Gauteng High Court Judge, Neil Tuchten, ruled that there was a strong chance that FlySafair had “deliberately concealed” information about its shareholders during the application process. He said the evidence was “well nigh overwhelming” that FlySafair’s holding company, Safair, had created a scheme to simulate meeting the foreign ownership legal requirements (only 25% of an airline can be foreign-owned). He also criticised the way the Air Services Licensing Council dealt with Comair and Skywise’s objections to FlySafair’s being granted a licence. 

Dave Andrew, FlySafair CEO, says: “Since the interdict was granted we have expedited our BBBEE transaction, previously advised to the ASLC and, as a result, restructured our shareholding, which also addresses some of the concerns raised in the court interdict.”
He adds that, as a result of the changes, FlySafair has reapplied for a new S1 licence and hopes to be heard by the ASLC in the near future. “As soon as the new licence is granted, we will be able to launch FlySafair.”
But competitor, Skywise, isn’t convinced, and plans to challenge the new application, says CEO Rodney James. “They are wholly owned and a controlled subsidiary of an Irish company. It’s interesting how they can change their shareholding overnight to try and satisfy the legal requirements of domestic air service ownership and control,” he says. 
According to James the sale and disposal of a company or shares in a company, as FlySafair claims to have done, takes many months. “Yet they have done it overnight. A paperwork shuffle for the creation of yet another front, perhaps,” he says.