Race for SA skies among mega-airlines
AVIATION EXPANSION
By ROGER MAKINGS
ALTHOUGH not keen to admit it, the race is on among Europe's mega-airlines which want to expand their influence in Southern African.
When British Airways upped its stake in BA/Comair to 18% last week, it was not an attempt to play catch-up with rival carrier Lufthansa, which already has access to many sub-Saharan destinations through its codeshare agreement with SAA.
Amanda Ryles of BA South Africa said that although the airline's partnership with Comair strengthened the Oneworld alliance's presence in Africa, this was not the reason they invested in Comair.
"We bought into Comair to cement an excellent relationship and to invest in a highly profitable airline, although this obviously has spin-off benefits for Oneworld," she said.
In the last annual results for both companies, BA's group turnover was £8 915-million (R89.1-billion). Comair's turnover was R608-million.
But Comair, which flies BA passengers all over southern Africa, admits it is looking to expand its regional network.
Bert van der Linden, Comair's commercial director, said Africa had opened up to foreign carriers and planned new treaties between various countries would allow for second-carrier operations. This would increase competition between Comair and SAA to sub-Saharan destinations.
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