LANSERIA International Airport, north of Johannesburg.
LANSERIA International Airport was likely to scale down on some of its commercial activities until such time it found another operator able to fill this gap, the privately owned airport chief executive Rampa Rammopo said on Friday.
Rammopo in an interview said Comair, through kulula.com, contributed significantly to their business.
Although Lanseria International Airport had anticipated a slow recovery of Comair, which operates kulula.com, in its strategic business plan due to a myriad operational challenges the business encountered since Covid-19, they had never anticipated a scenario where Comair would be liquidated, he said.
At a time when the aviation industry was slowly but surely showing signs of recovery from the devastation of the Covid-19 pandemic buoyed by the build-up of confidence from the travelling public, the liquidation of Comair would take out of the market about 40 percent of capacity, which would not be easily filled up by the other airline operators, Rammopo said.
“We are likely to scale down on some of our commercial activities until such time as we find another operator able to fill this gap. Discussions are therefore ongoing with some of these operators,” Rammopo said.
He said other than some of the austerity measures that they contemplated implementing in the short term, they had Flysafair operating the scheduled flights and their general aviation sector had picked up significantly, according to expectations.
The airport said it had plans to diversify its revenue base in the medium to long term.
“We will soon be launching projects related to this diversification strategy,” Rammopo said.
“Lanseria International Airport remains resolute in providing the best customer service and we are constantly working to exceed our clients’ expectations. The aviation industry is facing many challenges pursuant to Covid-19, but we remain firm that the industry will rise again,” Rammopo said.
Meanwhile, Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) acting group manager Gopolang Peme said the announcement by Comair that their business would be liquidated came as a big blow to the aviation sector’s recovery, particularly for South Africa’s domestic travel.
“Comair-managed airlines were some of the most popular and preferred airlines in South Africa and their absence in our skies will be felt by many, particularly Comair staff,” Peme said.
Acsa said that there were several players in keeping any one airline operational and the ripple effects of one airline ceasing to operate was most likely going to be felt along the entire value chain, including Acsa.
given.majola@inl.co.za
BUSINESS REPORT