Six times Comair made the news this year

Comair has been in the news for at least six incidents since the beginning of the year.

On Tuesday night the operator announced it would voluntarily ground its British Airways and Kulula.com flights due to a funding crunch.

The announcement came on the same day Kulula promoted an up to 30% off sale for flights from Tuesday till November 30. 

CEO Glenn Orsmond was optimistic Comair’s financial woes would soon be resolved.

 “We deeply regret the inconvenience this suspension will cause our customers. We did everything we could to avoid it. Comair, the business rescue practitioners and the lenders are working all out to get the funding in place so we can resume our normal flight schedule as soon as possible.”

This is just the latest of many issues plaguing the company:

• February 10: Shortly after taking off from Lanseria in Johannesburg for a flight to Cape Town, one of the two engines failed on a Kulula Boeing 737-800. The pilot issued a Mayday call and the plane and its 157 passengers landed safely at OR Tambo International Airport.
• February 20: BA flight BA6252 from East London to Johannesburg had to return to King Phalo Airport when the landing gear failed to retract.
• March 7: Kulula flight MN451 was forced to divert its morning flight to OR Tambo airport from nearby Lanseria after an “engine-related” issue.
• March 12-16: Comair was given a five-day air travel suspension by the SA Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) which grounded Kulula and British Airways flights across SA after a series of midair emergencies. The suspension was until Comair could prove its planes were safe.
• March 14: The National Union of Metalworkers SA (Numsa) called for Comair CEO Orsmond to step down after the suspension of the company's air operator certificate.
• March 19: Just days after the lifting of the suspension of Comair-operated flights, British Airways flight BA6324 from Gqeberha to Cape Town experienced technical problems with its landing gear during final approach. 

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