Yesterday Comair was forced to suspend operations for a period of 24 hours over safety concerns. That suspension has now been made indefinite, as not all issues have been addressed in that period.
Continue reading: South Africa’s Comair Suspends Operations Over Safety Concerns (Update)
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
It may be a subsidiary but the plane I took to Mauritius from JNB was BA. This is not a good look for British Airways.
Typical weekend shenanigans from SACAA. You never see them impose these suspensions on a Monday or Tuesday for example. They are even referred to as "Friday surprises" among those in the industry.
Comair is the parent company. They operate 2 subsidiaries under its brand, namely British Airways (Franchise) a fully fledged service airline IE business class etc and then the low cost airline named kulula.
Not a subsidiary, but a franchisee. But yes, it does present a brand-management issue for BA.
When booking flights to CPT on KLM, Virgin Atlantic, Air France, BA, etc. tthru JNB, these flights are often given. Will be interesting to see the effects on domestic connections beyond JNB if the suspension continues (as direct Europe - CPT flights on those carriers are often MUCH more expensive than the JNB connections)
Thanks for informing me as to why our Comair flight from Vic Falls to JNB is canceled tomorrow
3rd flight on inter-Africa travel canceled in the last 3 weeks.
Only time in my life I am longing for a US carrier. UA, CPT to EWR Monday night, if we can get there.
Hey! Good luck with your travels! I’m sure you’re already researching options, but an FYI, South African Airlink has nonstop flights from Vic Falls to CPT for your connection…it arrives CPT at 420pm, about 3.5 hours before the UA departure to EWR.
Depending how confident you feel with the connection, the cost for the flight on Monday is almost half the cost if you fly tomorrow, Sunday.
Best wishes!!
Ugh.
I’m booked JNB-CPT-JNB next month.
Hope they have their act together by then.
I flew Comair from CPT to JNB and back in 2013, and this doesn't surprise me at all!! It was a complete cluster and to say the experience left a lot to be desired is an understatement.
What a crock of sh*t. KLM, Virgin Atlantic and Air France have no connection or jv with Comair, only BA.
Sad state of affairs when Comair is suspended for safety issues etc. BA maintenance on all their aircrafts incl Comair is top class. I wonder whoever is in charge will take responsibility ? Sounds inept
BA has no connection with the maintenance on Comair's fleet. The approved MROs for Comair are SAA Technical (which is currently in dire financial straits itself) and Lufthansa Technik - and there has been difficulty for them to transition from SAAT to LHT for a variety of reasons including Comair's own management civil war and subsequent bankruptcy filings. The Comair of 2022 has very little in common with the stellar Comair of pre-2018 other than the name.
A lot of verbiage here involving general "safety" issues but that doesn't seem to get to the center of the issue(s) involving Comair. Probably because it's all being kept hush-hush. Whatever is going on is clearly concerning. And, despite this being a "franchisee" of BA, I'd think that BA would want to have someone involved here in order to preserve their reputation as well. After all, that's BA's livery they're wearing. So, this reflects badly on them too.
I see they are now back in the air again. I have flights booked with Comair in April but am now a little skeptical of their safety standards. Would others advise of taking the hit and booking elsewhere?
I had a somewhat scary experience with Comair. I was on a flight where the pilots did not extend the flaps until they were on the runway and about to begin the takeoff roll. This should be done just after pushback and before even entering the taxiway.
Sounds like they’re flying again: https://businesstech.co.za/news/business/568876/comair-restarts-kulula-and-british-airways-flights-in-south-africa/
I wouldn't count on it. This airline does not have a culture of safety. You can't fix that overnight.