SA is dying – and not from coronavirus

While people watched the ongoing implosion of South African Airways, in the background, other, supposedly financially strong airlines, are battling to stay aloft.

On Tuesday came the shock news that Comair – the holding company which includes the kulula.com and British Airways brands in South Africa – went into business rescue, unable to trade its way out of the Covid-19 catastrophe.

The worrying aspect of the situation is that Comair, as a company, has been flying successfully for 74 years and, as a private concern, has not been a drain on taxpayers. This shows how badly the air transport sector, both nationally and globally, has been hit by the closure of borders and lockdowns to restrain the spread of the coronavirus.

The company is hopeful that, given the right support through business rescue – which will probably mean staff and perhaps route cutbacks – it can be a going concern. But its salvation is still a long way off, because air flights locally are only set to resume during level 2 restrictions and plane capacities will be reduced because of mandatory social distancing.

What is happening at Comair is being echoed elsewhere in the economy. South Africa is dying – and not from a virus.

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