Airline licence dispute

FLYSAFAIR: TRANSPORT MINISTER CONSIDERING REQUEST FOR EXEMPTION

- Antoinette Slabbert

The domestic Air Services Licensing Council requires that all voting rights in domestic airlines must be held by natural persons and not legal entities.

This interpretation of the Air Services Licensing Act, voiced in a letter to FlySafair dated 6 January, renders almost all domestic airlines non-compliant and puts their operations at risk, says FlySafair.

In the letter, the council provides reasons for its finding of non-compliance against FlySafair, made on 19 December; 75% of its shareholding is held by legal entities.

A similar decision was made by the International Air Services Licensing Council in October, but sanctions that could have meant the grounding of the airline's international flights were staved off when FlySafair got a court interdict.