Business · Southern Africa
Harith wins Competition Tribunal nod to buy FlySafair, South Africa’s biggest domestic airline
The infrastructure investor’s 100% takeover from ASL Aviation comes with conditions on information-sharing and Lanseria access — and should settle FlySafair’s local-ownership question once it closes, expected in late 2026.
JOHANNESBURG — Harith Aviation has cleared the main regulatory hurdle in its bid to buy FlySafair, South Africa’s biggest domestic airline, putting the low-cost carrier on course for local ownership by the end of the year. The Competition Tribunal’s approval was first reported by Bloomberg on Thursday and confirmed by the Harith Aviation Consortium in a statement the same morning, Moneyweb reported.
The deal is a 100% acquisition of Safair Holdings, which owns and operates FlySafair through Safair Operations, from Ireland-based ASL Aviation Holdings. Harith first announced the agreement in February, according to ch-aviation. A purchase price has not been disclosed in the statements AB24 reviewed.
The regulator’s conditions
The Competition Commission recommended conditional approval in July. In its published statement, the Commission said the merger parties had agreed to two remedies: controls on “information exchange”, and ensuring that “airline-related or airport-related goods or services provided to other airlines at Lanseria Airport are not provided based on unfair, unreasonable or discriminatory terms.”
The Lanseria condition reflects the buyer’s footprint. Harith General Partners, the Johannesburg infrastructure investor behind the acquiring vehicle, is part of the consortium that owns Lanseria International Airport, Engineering News and Moneyweb noted — and FlySafair already operates a base there. According to the Commission’s statement, Harith Aviation is jointly controlled by the Pan-African Infrastructure Development Fund 2 and Harith InfraCo.
The deal drew objections. At a Tribunal hearing, rival CemAir argued that overlapping interests between Harith’s backers and the state-owned Public Investment Corporation could allow commercially sensitive information to flow, ch-aviation reported. The Commission responded that the PIC would hold only a minimal indirect interest in FlySafair and would not form part of the acquiring group, and counsel for the merging parties said no PIC funding would be used for the purchase.
Labour concerns were also aired. Trade union Solidarity said it supported the merger after receiving assurances of no merger-related retrenchments, SABC News reported, while the South African Cabin Crew Association told the Tribunal it did not oppose the deal provided jobs were protected, according to ch-aviation.
Ownership and the airline licence
The transaction also answers a long-running ownership question. Moneyweb has reported that FlySafair controls more than 60% of domestic seat capacity, and that in 2024 the Domestic Air Services Council found the carrier in breach of South Africa’s local-ownership rules because trusts and companies, rather than individuals, held 75% of its voting rights — a ruling that followed a complaint by rival Lift. A South African owner is meant to put that dispute to rest.
Harith said the deal “brings long-term South African investment into a successful local airline, keeping ownership in SA”. It added: “For FlySafair, it will be business as usual as the airline will continue to operate independently under its existing management team and retain its low-cost operating model and customer offering.”
FlySafair chief executive Elmar Conradie said in the statement: “We are pleased with the Competition Tribunal’s decision. It is a significant milestone for the transaction and reflects confidence in the future of the airline.”
What comes next
The approval is not quite the finish line. Harith said the parties are progressing with the remaining regulatory approvals and conditions precedent, without naming them. “Subject to receipt of the outstanding approvals and satisfaction of the remaining conditions precedent, the transaction is currently expected to close in late 2026,” it said.
For Harith, which previously tried and failed to buy a stake in state carrier SAA through the Takatso Consortium, the FlySafair deal brings full ownership of the country’s largest domestic carrier — with management promising passengers that little will change.
Sources: Bloomberg (first report, 29 Oct 2026); Harith Aviation Consortium statement via Moneyweb (29 Oct 2026); Competition Commission statement on latest decisions (13 Jul 2026); Moneyweb (Jul 2026); Engineering News (14 Jul 2026); ch-aviation (18 Aug 2026); SABC News via Trends Daily (Oct 2026). Quotes are from published statements.
— AB24 · Johannesburg