OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday 9.00pm.
THREE domestic airlines, British Airways-Comair, Nationwide and Sun Air on Monday filed a complaint against South African Airways with the Competitions Board, accusing the parastatal of predatory behaviour.
A joint statement issued by BA-Comair MD Pieter van Hoven, Sun Air MD Johan Borstlap and Nationwide GM Hugo Smit, said that the three airlines have highlighted to the board SAA’s large capacity increases in a number of domestic routes combined with pricing policies which “are clearly below cost and therefore, constitute predatory behaviour on the part of a dominant market share holder.”
The airlines charged that, on the Johannesburg-Durban route, SAA has increased flight capacity by 50%, and to charge prices that cannot even cover its costs. They point out that, for the first six month of the current financial yea, SAA reported a record financial loss of R204-million.
The three airlines stated that SAA’s conduct is a “clear case of anti-competitive behaviour aimed at regaining lost market share which SAA have lost to competitors over the last few years due to poor service delivery standards”. The Competitions board has been requested to conduct its investigation at the request of all three carriers.