Comair has operated in the airline industry in South Africa since 1946 and following the deregulation of the domestic airline industry, it entered the main domestic routes in 1992. In 1996 it became a franchise partner of British Airways and from that point its domestic routes were all flown under the British Airways livery and branding. In 2001 it launched its first low cost airline branded as Khulula.com. South African Airways is a State-owned company, which is governed by the South African Airways Act of 2007. The State, represented by the Minister of Public Enterprises is its only shareholder, and it is also a Schedule 2 public entity in terms of the Public Finance Management Act 1 of 1999 (“PFMA”).

The preamble to the former Act is contextually important inasmuch as it provides that the sole shareholder, the State, “regards South African Airways as a national carrier and strategic asset that would enable the State to preserve its ability to contribute to key domestic intra-regional and international air linkages”.