{"id":839386,"date":"2025-10-08T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=839386"},"modified":"2025-10-08T13:59:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T11:59:19","slug":"one-of-south-africas-top-courts-throw-flysafair-a-lifeline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/839386\/one-of-south-africas-top-courts-throw-flysafair-a-lifeline\/","title":{"rendered":"One of South Africa’s top courts throw FlySafair a lifeline"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

FlySafair has won a major reprieve in its ongoing ownership dispute after the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria granted it an urgent interdict removing a January 2026 deadline to fix its foreign ownership structure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ruling gives South Africa\u2019s largest domestic airline more time to argue its case in court before facing any penalties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The issue began when the Air Services Licensing Council (ASLC) ruled that FlySafair\u2019s ownership structure did not comply with South African law. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Air Services Licensing Act requires that South African residents must own at least 75% of a domestic airline\u2019s voting rights. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, FlySafair\u2019s main shareholder, Ireland-based ASL Aviation Holdings, reportedly owns about 74.86% of the airline, which is almost three times the legal foreign ownership limit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FlySafair came under scrutiny in 2022 after Airlink and Global Aviation (which operates LIFT) complained to regulators. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They argued that FlySafair\u2019s foreign ownership gave it an unfair advantage and questioned whether the airline\u2019s structure met South Africa\u2019s ownership requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The investigation that followed found that FlySafair had not amended its air service licence after a 2019 restructuring that left most of its shares in foreign hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This raised concerns that the airline was effectively controlled from abroad, something local regulations are designed to prevent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ASLC then ordered FlySafair to correct its shareholding within a year or risk losing its domestic licence. The deadline was set for 23 January 2026. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the airline stated that it struggled to obtain clarity from the council regarding what changes would comply with the law. According to FlySafair chief marketing officer Kirby Gordon, repeated requests for meetings and guidance went unanswered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response, FlySafair launched a legal challenge to the ASLC\u2019s decision, arguing that the council\u2019s interpretation of the rules was unrealistic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The airline said the council\u2019s view\u2014that ownership must be held by individual South African citizens rather than companies or trusts\u2014was impractical, as very few individuals could afford to own an airline outright. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unprecedented case <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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FlySafair also warned that this strict reading could put other South African carriers at risk of non-compliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because the court hearing to review the ASLC\u2019s decision has been delayed, FlySafair applied for an urgent interdict to remove the January 2026 deadline. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The High Court granted that request this week, effectively pausing any enforcement until the case is properly heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aviation analyst Guy Leitch said<\/a> the court\u2019s ruling shows it recognises that the case is complex and that FlySafair is engaging with the process in good faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s clear they weren\u2019t going to get a decision by the original deadline, so the court has effectively granted more time to resolve the issue. It shows the court understands that FlySafair is using the proper legal channels,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leitch described the case as unprecedented. \u201cThis is the first time an airline\u2019s foreign shareholding has been challenged like this in South Africa,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s testing the boundaries of the law and will likely bring much-needed clarity on what the ownership rules actually mean in practice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, competitors maintain that FlySafair\u2019s foreign shareholders give it an unfair edge. \u201cThey argue that offshore ownership provides access to cheaper capital,\u201d said Leitch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCapital is crucial for airlines as it\u2019s what allows them to buy aircraft and grow. So Airlink and others believe FlySafair\u2019s structure gives it an advantage they don\u2019t have.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leitch said FlySafair hasn\u2019t made any changes to its shareholding yet. \u201cInstead, the airline is asking for clear definitions of what counts as \u2018South African ownership\u2019 before making adjustments,\u201d he explained. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve said they\u2019ll comply once they know exactly what\u2019s required.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that the court\u2019s decision to pause the deadline was a logical one. \u201cThe judiciary has essentially given itself more time to deal with a complicated issue,\u201d Leitch said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt recognises that the case isn\u2019t straightforward and that it needs to be properly resolved before any enforcement can be fair.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Leitch, the outcome of this case will set an important precedent for the entire aviation industry. \u201cIt\u2019s going to determine how foreign ownership is interpreted under South African law,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FlySafair has won a major reprieve in its ongoing ownership dispute.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":798381,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[10020,5000,853],"class_list":["post-839386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-flysafair","tag-gauteng-high-court","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839386","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\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=839386"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839386\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":839407,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839386\/revisions\/839407"}],"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=839386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=839386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=839386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}