MONDAY, 11.30AM
UNPRECEDENTED conditions are being imposed on a new SA airline, Air South Africa, which intends to start thrice-weekly flights between Johannesburg and London via Malta later this year.
The tough new conditions are the first enforcement of new legislation promulgated following the disastrous collapses in recent years of three infant airlines in SA. Flitestar, Phoenix Airways and Avia Air Charter all went belly-up soon after their respective launches, leaving thousands of passengers out of pocket.
The new legislation prevents airline companies being sold complete with their operating licences, and bars insolvent airlines from trading on prepaid ticket sales, which happened both the Avia and Phoenix collapses.
In terms of the new legislation, Air SA, which was recently granted a scheduled international air transport licence, will be monitored by the Air Services’ Licensing Council for its first 18 months in operation.
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