Johannesburg, South Africa- The Competition Commission has assured travellers that the price of all flights will remain the same.
This follows this week’s abrupt halt of Comair’s Kulula.com and British Airways airlines due to financial challenges. The two airlines have close to a 50 percent stake in all ticket sales and since the suspension of their airlines, prices of domestic flights have skyrocketed by more than a hundred percent.
“The Commission sought to prevent any possible price gouging emanating from the supply shock. The Commission was encouraged by the positive response of all the airlines in this respect as they acknowledged the need to bring in more capacity in the market and committed not to change their pricing methodologies to exploit the situation. All parties further acknowledged the challenges posed by the rising fuel prices which will further put pressure on the cost of air travel. The Commission will monitor the situation,” said Siyabulela Makunga, the Commission’s spokesperson.
Meanwhile, Comair workers affiliated with the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) will today be picketing outside the offices of Comair.
According to NUMSA spokesperson, Phakamile Hlubi-Majola, they want Comair’s CEO, Glenn Orsmond and Business Rescue Practitioner (BRP) Richard Ferguson removed as they have failed in executing their duties.
“They are failing. Under their poor leadership, the airline has had to deal with one crisis after another and their mismanagement has brought the airline to the point where its operations have been suspended again.
The grounding and suspension of the airline have left thousands of passengers deeply inconvenienced and management handled the situation very poorly. It is clear that the future of the airline remains very uncertain and we remain doubtful that Orsmond can assist us to find a long-lasting resolution. We also have questions about the role of the BRPs who have been in charge for almost two years. They were paid exorbitantly and were seemingly unable to foresee this financial hurdle.
As NUMSA we have repeatedly called for the immediate resignation of Glenn Orsmond as CEO of the company due to his complete incompetence and lack of vision. Under the poor leadership of Mr. Orsmond and the BRPs the airline has gone from one crisis to another,” said Hlubi-Majola.
