Yesterday, I wrote about the grey skies and the anxieties surrounding the sale of FlySafair to Harith General Partners.
I stand by those concerns: as the financial advisor to over 2 000 pilots, it is my job to stresstest every scenario for risk.
I’ve spent 15 years in aviation and if I’ve learned one thing, it’s this: You cannot fly the plane looking only at the storm radar; you also have to look for the gaps in the clouds.
Today, I want to talk about these gaps, about why, if played correctly, this deal could be the most positive catalyst for South African aviation since 2010.
When you strip away the politics and fear, you are left with cold, hard business facts.
And the facts suggest this could be the beginning of something massive.
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Let’s be crystal-clear about what Harith just bought. They didn’t buy a distressed asset like SAA in 2019. They bought the crown jewel of African aviation.
FlySafair’s pilots are worldclass. They are highly trained, resilient and highly experienced in our unique operating environment.
The cabin crew and ground staff run the operation like Swiss clockwork.
There is a reason FlySafair consistently ranks as one of the most on-time airlines globally, often cited by data as leading the pack in the Middle East and Africa region.
You don’t achieve that level of operational excellence by accident. It’s culture, it’s discipline and it’s pride.
Harith is an infrastructure fund with over $3 billion (about R48 billion) in assets.
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You don’t buy a finely tuned, market-leading machine to strip it for parts. You buy it to turn up the boost.
The smartest thing a private equity buyer can do with a performing asset is leave the operations alone and provide capital for expansion. Harith has publicly said current management remains in place. That’s step one in the right direction.
FlySafair’s previous owners, ASL Aviation, were fantastic, but they were conservative Irish operators. FlySafair has been desperate to expand aggressively into Africa – Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia, Mauritius – but the pace has been cautious.
Harith is built differently. Their entire mandate is African infrastructure development. They have deep pockets and a long investment horizon.
This deal solves the restrictive foreign ownership issue instantly, removing the regulatory brakes that have held the airline back. With Harith’s backing, FlySafair has the capital and the political green light to aggressively pursue regional dominance.
We aren’t just talking about R10 flights to Durban, we are talking about FlySafair becoming the de facto regional connector for the Southern African Development Community. That is a massive growth story.
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The fear is private money ruins airlines. History shows it can also save and supercharge them.
Look at Indigo Partners. They are a private equity firm that invests heavily in low-cost carriers globally (Wizz Air in Europe, Frontier in the US). They don’t shrink the airlines; they order hundreds of aircraft at a time and aggressively expand routes.
Look at Bain Capital buying Virgin Australia out of administration during Covid. The sceptics thought they would liquidate it. Instead, they restructured, refocused, saved thousands of jobs and the airline is profitable.
If Harith adopts a growth, rather than an asset-stripping mindset, FlySafair won’t just survive, it will double in size.
My phone has run hot with fearful pilots, so how can they be encouraged to stay? By two things, lifestyle and rapid career progression.
If Harith uses their capital to order another 10 or 20 Boeing 737s to service new African routes, dozens of new command slots open up almost immediately, first officers get upgraded faster and job security will be based on expansion, not just the status quo.
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However, the bottom line is also important. For the past few years, Safair’s management had to run a remarkably tight ship.
They weathered Covid, navigated a bruising strike and kept the books spotless to attract a major buyer. Now the monetary number has been met and the deal is done, Harith has the mandate and the capital for growth.
You can’t expand an airline if your crews are heading for the door. To protect their investment, the new owners have to secure their most valuable asset, the staff. This means the potential for increased benefits and pay is back on the table.
The past few years of Safair’s lean strategy now makes perfect sense. They built the ultimate attractive asset, secured the bag and unlocked the capital needed for the next phase.
We must remain vigilant, the concerns about governance and competition are real. But we must also allow for success.
SA desperately needs a win. We need a national champion that isn’t a drain on the fiscus, but a privately run, efficiently operated engine for tourism and economic connection.
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