The South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) has grounded Comair indefinitely on 13 March 2022, reports The Citizen.

The suspension of their Air Operation Certificate (AOC) was a result of a number of incident-related occurrences. Comair operates the budget airline Kulula.com and the local British Airways franchise.

The airline was initially suspended for 24 hours on 12 March 2022 until SACAA said that it was suspending it indefinitely. This means that thousands of passengers will be left stranded until a decision is made by the SACAA.

“The inspection was also aimed at reviewing Comair’s quality control management system (QC) and safety management systems (SMS) to establish compliance related to reporting, analysis and follow-up on occurrences, and corrective action plans to prevent recurrence.” the SACAA statement read.

How to get a refund

Those who had booked flights with Kulula.com can rebook with no change penalties, subject to availability of the same fare class.

Customers who wish to rebook should email MNContactCentre@comair.co.za.

On their website, customers can allocate their unused tickets to a Travelbank account.

This means you can keep the unused ticket value to pay for any future trip of your choice.

You can even purchase a ticket for someone else.

Here is how to access a Travelbank account:

1. Ensure you have a valid Kulula ID with the correct name, surname and contact details loaded onto your Kulula ID profile.
2. Log in to check your details
3. Create a Kulula ID if you do not have one

Email bank@kulula.com with the below information to facilitate the travelbank credit process.

• Unique Kulula ID
• Original ticket number
• Or booking reference
• Or flight details (flight number, date of travel, routing and traveller’s name/ surname)

Customers need to note that the facilitating process of Travelbank can take up to eight weeks to reflect due to system constraints.

The Citizen/Kgomotso Phooko