Big change at South Africa’s largest and most successful airline

FlySafair, South Africa’s largest and most successful airline, is set to be acquired by Harith General Partners.

FlySafair, operated by Safair Operations, dates back to 1965, when Tropair was founded as a general aviation charter company.

In 1970, the company was acquired by Safmarine, which changed its name to Safair Freighters. Its primary client in the 1980s was the South African Defence Force.

In 2013, Safair launched a low-cost carrier under the separate brand FlySafair. After a few corporate and legal battles, its first flight took off in October 2014.

For the first few years, FlySafair was a relatively small player in the South African airline market, competing with Kulula.com and Mango.

However, the collapse of Comair, which operated the budget brand Kulula.com, and Mango, operated by SAA, opened the door to rapid expansion.

FlySafair executed an aggressive and successful scaling operation, pivoting from a strong competitor to the leader in South Africa.

They added multiple Boeing 737-800 aircraft to their lineup, scaling up to an active fleet of 37 aircraft by 2026.

Today, the airline is the dominant player controlling the majority of domestic seat capacity in South Africa.

With domestic dominance secured, FlySafair leveraged its scale to look beyond South Africa’s borders.

Today, FlySafair operates passenger flights between Cape Town, George, Port Elizabeth, Johannesburg, Lanseria, Durban, East London, and Bloemfontein.

The airline also offers international flights to Zanzibar, Mauritius, Harare, Livingstone, Victoria Falls, and Maputo.

FlySafair is getting a new owner

Earlier this year, Harith and its affiliates entered into a sale-and-purchase agreement to acquire FlySafair.

Harith General Partners is one of the largest and most influential private equity and infrastructure fund managers in Africa.

Headquartered in Sandton, Harith specialises in financing and developing mega-infrastructure projects across the continent.

The company has $3 billion in assets under management, with a focus on energy, connectivity, transportation, and logistics.

It said the FlySafair transaction supports its strategy to strengthen an effective, integrated transport ecosystem that connects Africa.

When it was announced in February 2026, the transaction remained subject to customary regulatory approvals, including the Competition Commission’s approval.

However, earlier this week, the Competition Commission supported Harith General Partners’ proposal to buy FlySafair.

The Competition Commission recommended that the Competition Tribunal approve the transaction with conditions.

The acquisition will help FlySafair to address regulatory pressure to meet South African ownership rules.

Under South African law, domestic airlines, like FlySafair, must have at least 75% local ownership.

The Air Services Licensing Council investigated FlySafair because its parent company, Safair, was heavily owned by Ireland-based ASL Aviation Holdings.