NUMSA to meet with Comair on Thursday over fear of job losses

The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) will soon be meeting with Comair executives. This is amid fears of job losses that have arisen since Comair grounded all of its planes.

NUMSA to meet with Comair regarding jobs

The meeting is expected to be conducted on Thursday, 2 June. On Tuesday, 31 May, Comair announced that all Kulula and British Airways flights would be ground due to a liquidity crisis it is facing.

While Comair is reportedly in talks with investors to Swifty resume flights, there is currently no indication of when its planes will be taking flight again. Passengers all across SA were left frustrated after they were stranded. This was worsened by the sale that was held a day before the announcement of the grounding.

Comair CEO denies deceiving customers with sale

CEO of Comair Glenn Orsmond has denied assumptions that it had deceived customers by having a sale before grounding its planes. He shared that the sale was suspended as soon as management ascertained that a liquidity crisis arose.

Orsmond said that they do not receive money until the flight has taken off.

“We do not receive the cash until the flight has flown. Therefore, all the cash is available and the cash will be refunded,”

he said.

What is going to happen with British Airways passengers?

With regard to British Airways passengers, Orsmond says they are being accommodated on other airlines and that they are communicating with the passengers. Speaking about the tough financial conditions, Orsmond explained that Comair was also battling high fuel prices.

Analyst explains airline struggles in SAA

According to EWN, aviation analyst Puthego Mojapele said that the industry is struggling in South Africa. Mojapele explained that Comair was one of many airlines that were operating on the bare minimum in Mzansi.

He added that Comair did not have the funds to continue with its operations, adding that failures in the industry had a wide-reaching impact.

“We’ve got SA Express, Mango, now Coomair not operating and SAA is operating but at a very small scale. There’s not going to be improvement in the industry because now you’re going to have a number of other entities other than the employees that are employed by Comair, also those that are supplying services to Comair, so those are the things that are going to continue wreaking havoc,” he said.

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