The Air Services Licencing Council (ASLC) and International Air Services Licencing Council (IASLC) have held off on imposing sanctions on FlySafair for the time being.
The airline was found to be in contravention of local ownership laws and currently has 12 months to resolve the issue, raising questions as to how the matter will affect the aviation industry.
Saved by the bell
In January 2025, the ASLC announced that FlySafair’s ownership structure does not adhere to South African law, which requires that domestic airlines have to be at least 75% locally owned.
The council found that the Irish ASL Aviation currently holds a 74.86% stake in FlySafair, making it the majority shareholder.
This, it determined, means that FlySafair’s ownership structure violates South African and international air services licencing regulations.
The discovery sparked concerns that the airline could be grounded for the violation, putting even more pressure on an industry that is already struggling to keep up with demand.
Luckily, FlySafair applied for and was granted an exemption by Transport Minister Barbara Creecy in late January, allowing it to continue local operations for 12 months while the matter is under review.
However, while FlySafair is still operational, the ASLC was meant to decide on whether or not to impose sanctions on the airline for its contravention of legal parameters, but this has yet to happen as the council was asked to hold off on delivering the ruling.
Sources at the former council confirmed that the sanction has yet to be issued because they were asked to hold off at the cut-off date on 31 March and were not given the chance to finalize the sanction, according to IOL.
The serving ASLc members’ terms expired on 31 March, prompting the Department of Transport (DoT) to change the members before the council could reach a decision on the FlySafair sanction.
DoT spokesperson Collen Msibi confirmed that new members had been appointed to both councils for a three-year term until March 2028.
FlySafair marketing executive Kirby Gordon stated that the airline was aware of the change of council members, and has not yet been issued a sanction by the IASLC.
“At this stage we await insight from the councils on what the impact of the change will be,” he said.
Concerns over cheap flights in South Africa
FlySafair is South Africa’s largest domestic airline, operating an estimated 160 flights per day.
This equates to roughly 60% of all local air traffic, meaning that a potential shutdown could have devastating consequences for flight costs.
Ticket prices are already incredibly high in South Africa following the loss of other domestic airlines like Mango and Kulula, leading to greatly reduced seat capacity provided by a handful of remaining services like FlySafair, Lift, and Airlink.
The added loss of FlySafair, even temporarily, would therefore lead to further reduced seat availability with the potential for astronomical price hikes.
FlySafair has also warned that its suspension could lead to several job losses in the aviation industry given the number of people involved in its operations, both directly or indirectly.
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