The awaited sanction on FlySafair for contravention of the foreign ownership regulations after findings by the International Air Services Licencing Council (IASLC) is up in the air.
This comes after the Department of Transport (DoT) changed the members of the IASLC and the Air Services Licencing Council (ASLC) at the expiry of their terms last month without allowing for a handover and delivery of overdue decisions.
The ASLC is a statutory body responsible for awarding or revoking traffic rights to airlines based in South Africa subject to operational, safety, and liability requirements.
Both the IASLC and ASLC have ruled that FlySafair's shareholding structure failed to meet the requirement that 75% of voting rights be held by South African citizens who are also residents of the country.
This led to the ASLC directing FlySafair to comply with the requirements of the Air Services Licensing Act within 12 months from January 23, effectively giving the airline an opportunity to remain in the skies while fixing its compliance matters.
The sanction by the IASLC had not been delivered by March 31 at the expiry of the term of the councils, which have both served a single term without extension though a second term as provision still existed.
Collen Msibi, the DoT spokesperson, yesterday said the IASLC met on 31 March to finalize the sanction on FlySafair matter and that no decisions were outstanding from both previous councils.
According to the gazette, Transport Minister Barbara Creecy appointed Advocate Derick Block to head the IASLC in place of Advocate Nomveliso Ntanjana.
Msibi confirmed that new members had been appointed to both councils for a three-year term to March 2028.
Flysafair marketing executive Kirby Gordon confirmed that the airline was aware of the change of council members as per the gazetted notification and had not had any sanction issued by the IASLC yet.
"At this stage we await insight from the councils on what the impact of the change will be," Gordon said.
FlySafair, owned by ASL Aviation Group, an Irish aviation services holding company, is facing scrutiny over its ownership structure, specifically the percentage of foreign ownership.
Sources at the former councils confirmed that the sanction on Flysafair had still not been delivered because they were asked to stand down at the cut off date of March 31 and were not allowed the opportunity to finalise the sanction.
"This was a huge matter involving more than 30 legal practitioners. Even judges are allowed the courtesy of either finishing the matter or coming back to deliver the ruling whatever it is," a member of the previous council said.
"In this case the council has been closed out. We knew we were not coming back but the council should have been allowed time to finish."
BUSINESS REPORTS