FlySafair Takeover Moves Closer as Competition Commission Recommends Conditional Approval
By Sipho “The Investigator” Ndlovu | EZA News
South Africa’s Competition Commission has recommended that the Competition Tribunal approve private equity firm Harith Aviation’s proposed acquisition of FlySafair’s parent company, Safair Holdings – a development that moves the transaction significantly closer to completion and could reshape the country’s domestic aviation sector.
The recommendation, detailed in the Commission’s latest decisions statement released on Monday, 13 July 2026, clears a critical regulatory hurdle for the deal, which has been structured in part to bring FlySafair into compliance with South Africa’s local ownership requirements for domestic air service licensees.
FlySafair is the dominant force in South African domestic aviation, commanding more than 60% of domestic airline seat capacity. The airline came under regulatory scrutiny in 2024 after the Domestic Air Services Council ruled that it was in breach of ownership rules – the finding centred on the fact that trusts and companies, rather than qualifying individuals, held 75% of the airline’s voting rights. The ruling followed a formal complaint lodged by rival carrier Lift.
Harith Aviation, through which the acquisition is being pursued, is jointly controlled by the Pan-African Infrastructure Development Fund 2 and Harith Infraco. Harith’s broader mandate involves financing infrastructure projects across Africa in sectors including transport, energy, telecommunications, healthcare, and water – giving the proposed acquisition a pan-African infrastructure investment dimension that extends well beyond a simple change of airline ownership.
The Competition Commission found that the merger is unlikely to substantially lessen competition in the domestic aviation market. However, it imposed a set of conditions specifically designed to address concerns arising from Harith’s existing stake in Lanseria International Airport. The conditions include measures to prevent the exchange of commercially sensitive information between Harith’s airport and airline interests, and to ensure that goods and services provided to competing airlines at Lanseria are not offered on unfair, unreasonable or discriminatory terms.
In a separate but notable decision in the same statement, the Competition Commission also recommended conditional approval of Coca-Cola HBC AG and Coca-Cola HBC Holdings BV’s proposed acquisition of Coca-Cola Beverages Africa. Conditions on that transaction include commitments not to retrench employees for a specified period, to maintain historically disadvantaged person and worker ownership levels, to continue procuring from empowered suppliers and small businesses, to invest in South African operations, to retain the company’s headquarters in South Africa, and to pursue a secondary inward listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
The FlySafair deal still requires final sign-off from the Competition Tribunal before it can be implemented. The timeline for that decision has not been confirmed.
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