Comair restarts Kulula and British Airways flights in SA

Comair restarts Kulula and British Airways flights in South Africa

Comair has announced that its British Airways and kulula.com flights will start operating again from Thursday (17 March).

This comes after the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) reinstated the group’s air operators’ certificate.

“We’re pleased that the situation is finally resolved, following an immense effort over five days and nights to engage and work with the SACAA.

“After a thorough review of Comair’s documentation, the SACAA has lifted the precautionary suspension of Comair’s licence. Our focus is now to get our operations back to normal as quickly as possible so we can further assist our customers,” said chief executive Glenn Orsmond.

The British Airways (operated by Comair) and kulula.com schedules will be restored in a phased manner and customers are advised to check the schedules on the airlines’ websites before coming to the airport.

Customers with existing reservations will be contacted directly. Updates will also be posted on social media channels.

The SACAA findings concerned the level of evidential support of some management systems and procedures relating to quality assurance processes, the structuring and personnel in the safety department and documentation flow regarding repair confirmations, Comair said.

It added that no safety and security findings were made regarding either flight operations or maintenance.

During the precautionary suspension, the airline did what it could to help vulnerable customers and those that urgently needed to travel. This included chartering wide-bodied aircraft and accommodating customers on other airlines as far as possible, but with Comair operating 40% of the capacity in the market, there were not enough seats for everyone affected.

“The past four days have demonstrated the implications of having so much capacity removed from the market at such short notice. Having Comair’s operational capability restored is good news for our customers, our employees, the flying public and the sector,” said Orsmond.

Bookings

British Airways (operated by Comair) customers who have been affected can rebook flights via their travel agents, ba.com (Manage my Booking) or the contact centre BAContactCentre@comair.co.za Customers who have e-mailed the contact centre will receive responses in the next seven days.

kulula.com customers who have been affected will receive a full credit to the value of their ticket, valid for rebooking within six months of the original reservation date and with such flight reservations valid for use within 12 months of rebooking.

Customers who have sent emails to MNContactCentre@comair.co.za and you plan to use their credit at a later stage, will receive a response in the next seven days.

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