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The court case to determine whether Comair can be saved or should be placed in final liquidation was postponed until June next year.
The matter came up in the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
According to the office of Comair's provisional liquidators, the Sechaba Trust, a postponement was requested because they are still in talks with parties interested in potentially buying certain parts of the company. It mainly relates to intellectual property like brands and licences.
In August, the Air Services Licensing Council suspended two air service licences of Comair for two years. The various operating licences are the company's most valuable unsecured assets. News24 Business is aware of at least one local airline which has expressed potential interest in some of the assets.
Comair's fleet of aircraft, valued at about R3.5 billion, is encumbered in favour of secured creditors such as banks.
The Covid-19 pandemic and related lockdowns negatively impacted Comair, which at one point accounted for 40% of South Africa's domestic market.
The company went into business rescue in May 2020 due to the impact of the Covid-19 travel restrictions. It was also hamstrung by an attempt to cancel a contract to buy Boeing 737 MAX planes. Rising fuel prices after Russia invaded Ukraine added to its woes.
At the end of May this year, Comair could not get any further funding necessary to cover operational costs. The business rescue practitioners had to suspend flights and apply for provisional liquidation.
Comair operated its own low-cost airline kulula.com as well as domestic and regional British Airways flights under a licence agreement. The BA agreement was terminated when Comair was placed in provisional liquidation in June this year.
