The crash-and-burn business

AVIATION: NO AIRLINE IS TOO BIG TO FAIL AS COMAIR, MANGO AND SAA SHOW

- Hein Kaiser

About 100 cargo, passenger firms have tried their luck in close to as many years.

South African aviation has long been a ruthless sector. Airlines rise with great ambitions, only to fall prey to cutthroat competition and, often, an uneven playing field.

Since the 1950s, roughly 100 passenger and cargo airlines have taken to the skies, only to have someone else eventually eat their lunch.

No airline was ever too big to fail. Comair, Mango and SAA's business rescue sorties taught the industry this.

The demise of Flitestar in 1994 had already warned of the dangers of being a challenger brand.

Nationwide Airlines arrived in 1995, positioning itself as a full-service alternative to SAA and, for a while, it worked. Nationwide even flew international routes to London.

But in 2007, the airline suffered an unforgettable PR disaster when an engine detached from a Boeing 737. The writing was on the wall. By 2008, Nationwide was gone, just as the low-cost revolution began.

If the 2000s belonged to anyone, it was the budget airlines. Kulula burst onto the scene in 2001 as the cheeky green-clad disruptor. It had a good run, a very good run alongside Comair stablemate, a British Airways South Africa franchise.