Four options for business travel in SA

Business people who are now allowed to undertake essential travel between South Africa’s “golden triangle” hub cities of Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban during alert Level 3 of Covid-19 restrictions, have a choice of four commercial airlines (currently) on which to fly.

Mango Airlines confirmed on Thursday that it will resume flights from mid-June, joining the likes of FlySafair, Airlink and CemAir, which have already confirmed plans to operate this month.

Mango CEO Nico Bezuidenhout said the airline “is getting ready to take the skies once more” but will remain compliant with government regulations.

“We are pleased to announce that we will resume flying on Monday, 15 June. New bookings are open now for flying fromthat date,” he said.

Mango will be offering 12 flights a day during weekdays – four each between OR Tambo International Airport (ORT) and Cape Town; ORT and Durban; and, Cape Town and Durban, respectively. Over weekends, it will operate 10 flights altogether between these cities.

FlySafair confirmed to Moneyweb earlier this week that it will recommence flights on 15 June. It will operate flights on the “golden triangle“, as well as from Johannesburg’s Lanseria International Airport to both Cape Town and Durban.

Airlink is set to commence flights from Monday. However, it will operate Johannesburg to Cape Town and Johannesburg to Durban.

Smaller aviation group CemAir will also be operating these two routes for now. The airline noted on its website that flights were started from yesterday.

Meanwhile, SAA and Comair – both amid business rescue proceedings – remain grounded.

Comair’s business rescue practitioners (BRPs) this week said that the group “is unlikely to start operating again before November this year, notwithstanding the easing of restrictions on air travel”.

They noted that the group, which owns kulula.com and operates British Airways’ domestic flights in the country, would need “a substantial cash injection” in order to resume operations this month.

SAA’s BRPs Les Matuson and Siviwe Dongwana said last week that the airline would not be recommencing flights this month.

Moneyweb

Trencor minority shareholders were left fuming on Thursday after an annual general meeting at which the board held resolutely to its controversial decision to delay the final winding up of the company until December 2024.

During a heated two-hour long virtual AGM, board chair David Nurek argued they had no choice because of the indemnities they had provided, which expire at the end of 2024.

“If we hadn’t provided the indemnities none of the ‘simplification’ would have been possible,” said Nurek, referring to the planned winding up of the company.

Level of protection

He explained that the trustees of a trust structure – put in place in