SUNAIR Holdings Limited – the company that plans to resurrect SunAir as a Cape Town-based international airline – is negotiating a listing on the London Stock Exchange and has made an offer for an existing aviation operation in South Africa, says ceo, André Shaban.

The company intends to announce its plans before the end of March next year once all financial matters have been finalised, he told TravelHub. He said the reasons for wanting to list in the UK rather than in South Africa were that the UK market was 100 times bigger than South Africa. He also claimed the British and Europeans supported the transport sector and that similar companies to SunAir had opened their listing at 30p. He said support for SA companies was also expected ahead of 2010. Shaban said negotiations for the purchase of the existing aviation company were “going well”. “I can't say anything more at this stage. I initially expected to make an announcement in early December, but there were delays from the UK. I will make an announcement when everything is finalised, which should be before the end of March next year.” He confirmed that the company had secured “at least R1,5bn” in equity investment and that it had concluded a partnership with BEE company Molo-Moya. According to its website, the business plan will involve an airline operating international and regional passenger and cargo flights from Cape Town; an airline maintenance operation; a ground handling organisation; an aviation training academy and an asset company. Also according to the website, SunAir had a meeting with representatives of Boeing, who had “promised general aviation and technical advice and support for our efforts and indicated that they will assist us in our further developments”.