{"id":807263,"date":"2025-01-19T17:31:08","date_gmt":"2025-01-19T15:31:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=807263"},"modified":"2025-01-19T19:59:58","modified_gmt":"2025-01-19T17:59:58","slug":"serious-accusations-against-south-africas-largest-airline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/motoring\/807263\/serious-accusations-against-south-africas-largest-airline\/","title":{"rendered":"Serious accusations against South Africa\u2019s largest airline"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

FlySafair is accused of flouting local and international airline rules, unlawfully overbooking seats, and using dirty tricks to avoid compensating customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CemAir CEO Miles Van Der Molen told Biznews there is mounting evidence that FlySafair has broken the rules to gain an unfair advantage in the local aviation market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first problem is ownership. South Africa\u2019s Air Services Licensing Act stipulates that domestic airlines must have at least 75% local ownership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The International Air Services Act requires substantial local shareholding, which is widely accepted to be above 50%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FlySafair is 74.86% owned by ASL Aviation Group, which seems to be prima facie evidence that it has broken these rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa\u2019s Air Services Licensing Council ruled that FlySafair does not comply with the Air Services Licensing Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The International Air Services Council (IASC) also ruled that FlySafair\u2019s shareholding structure was not compliant with the law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It said the company structure comprised a 49.86% shareholding by the Safair Investment Trust, which is 100% owned by ASL, in addition to the 25% direct ASL shareholding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The IASC also ruled that FlySafair failed to apply for an amendment of its air service licence when its ownership structure changed in March 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two councils are expected to announce their sanctions soon, which may include suspending FlySafair\u2019s license, imposing fines, or even filing criminal charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Should FlySafair planes be grounded, it would wreak havoc on the local aviation sector and leave many local and international travellers stranded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the significant impact of such a decision, Van Der Molen said an airline cannot break the rules without repercussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cConvenience cannot come above the law. If FlySafair isn\u2019t complying, that has to be dealt with,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes, it would be a shock to the market, but they have gained a dominant position by using tactics they shouldn\u2019t have. The law should be upheld.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FlySafair overbooking investigation<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Cemair CEO Miles Van Der Molen (left)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The second problem is overbooking. FlySafair clients complained about being stranded despite having paid for a seat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The airline admitted that it overbooked flights, arguing that it was to ensure it could keep its tickets as affordable as possible for passengers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, overbooking is prohibited by the Consumer Protection Act, which prompted the National Consumer Commission (NCC) to launch an investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NCC said it had established communication with the airline and requested relevant information to kick-start the investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FlySafair responded to the investigation by saying that overbooking is a standard and globally accepted practice employed by airlines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They argued it was needed to manage operations efficiently, mitigate the financial impact of no-show passengers, and keep air travel affordable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis practice has been used by all local airlines, past and present, as well as international carriers selling tickets to South African consumers,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFlySafair applies this principle in a responsible and customer-centric manner, ensuring that we balance efficiency with fairness,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Der Molen said this is a lie. Many airlines, including Cemair, have released statements saying they don\u2019t overbook flights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur understanding is that it\u2019s not allowed. For FlySafair to go out and claim that everyone does it is concerning. It\u2019s very misleading,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even more concerning is that he said FlySafair applies dirty tricks to ensure passengers in overbooked flights are left stranded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you have a long check-in queue, the airline can manipulate the system,\u201d Van Der Molen said in the Biznews interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf they know the flight is overbooked, they can manage the check-in rate to achieve the outcome they want. But that\u2019s not ethical.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When this happens, they do not have to compensate customers, which bolster the bottom line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BusinessTech asked FlySafair for comment about the accusations, but the company preferred not to comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FlySafair is accused of flouting local and international airline rules, unlawfully overbooking seats, and using dirty tricks to avoid compensating customers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":798381,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11119],"tags":[18187,10020,21440],"class_list":["post-807263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motoring","tag-cemair","tag-flysafair","tag-miles-van-der-molen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=807263"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807263\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":807524,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807263\/revisions\/807524"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/798381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=807263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=807263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=807263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}