From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Comair
IATA MN	ICAO CAW	Callsign COMAIR
Founded		1946 (as Commercial Air Services)
Hubs		OR Tambo International Airport
Focus cities		Cape Town International Airport, Durban International Airport
Frequent flyer program		Executive Club
Member lounge		Terraces Lounge
Alliance		Oneworld
Fleet size		15
Destinations		8
Headquarters		Johannesburg, South Africa
Key people
Website: http://www.comair.co.za/

Comair is an airline based in South Africa. It operates scheduled services on domestic trunk routes as a British Airways franchisee and an affiliate member of the Oneworld airline alliance. Its main base is OR Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg, with hubs at Cape Town International Airport and Durban International Airport^[1].

The airline was established and started operations on 14 July 1946 as Commercial Air Services. It was founded by Second World War South African Air Force colleagues AC Joubert, JMS Martin, L Zimmerman and JD Human. Scheduled services between Rand Airport, Johannesburg and Durban began in 1948, using a Cessna Model 195.

The airline grew over the next decades, to the point where it was able to start service on major domestic routes in 1992, using Boeing 737-200 aircraft. In addition to domestic flights to destinations such as Cape Town and Durban, it also offered a few international flights in Southern Africa, e.g. to Gaborone and Harare.

A franchise agreement with British Airways was signed in 1996 and in early 2000 British Airways acquired a minority holding. It was listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in July 1998. The airline is owned by the management (25%), institutions and public (52%), British Airways (18%) and employees (5%) and has 1,447 employees (at March 2007)^[1].

In 2001 Kulula.com was set up. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Comair and was set up as a low-cost airline.

On 6/09/2007 Comair extended its franchise agreement with British Airways for a further 11 years ^[2]

Comair serves the following destinations (at March 2007)^[1] :

• Domestic scheduled destinations: Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth.
• International scheduled destinations: Harare, Livingstone, Victoria Falls and Windhoek.

The Comair fleet includes the following aircraft (at March 2007) ^[1] :

• 5 Boeing 737-200
• 7 Boeing 737-300
• 3 Boeing 737-400

Comair has announced that it will be considering replacing its entire fleet from 2010 onwards with an order of 12 Boeing 737-700 (replacing B737-200 and -300) and 12 Boeing 737-800 (Replacing B737-400 and Kulula.com MD-82) being discussed.^{[citation needed]}

• Comair

1. ^ ^{a b c d} "Directory: World Airlines", Flight International, 2007-04-03, p. 67. 
2. ^ [1]

v • d • e British Airways related topics
Alliance	Oneworld
Components	British Airways · BA CityFlyer
Franchisees	British Mediterranean Airways · Comair · GB Airways  · Loganair · Sun Air
Destinations	British Airways destinations · British Airways franchise destinations
Heritage	Imperial Airways · British Airways Ltd · British European Airways (BEA) · British South American Airways · British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC)
Other	British Airways Engineering · British Airways ethnic liveries · Timeline of British Airways · Speedbird