#295 FlySafair Sold, OR Tambo Queues And 16 Bomb Threats In One Day
More than six out of every ten seats on a domestic flight in South Africa belong to FlySafair. The Competition Tribunal has approved its sale to Harith, a deal Business Day puts at about R7 billion, and Harith already owns about 37% of Lanseria Airport. So the approval comes with conditions: Harith gets no say in Lanseria's pricing, slots or apron access, the airport and the airline may not share directors, Lanseria must serve other airlines on fair and equal terms, and nobody may be retrenched because of the merger for three years. CemAir argued at the August hearing that Harith's backers and the Public Investment Corporation are too closely linked. Harith says FlySafair keeps its management, its low-cost model and its customer offering, and expects to close before the end of the year. Bryan Roseveare and Ryan Parrock are joined by Alan Macaulay, our long-time correspondent from Canada and now Geneva, who joins the show as a full crew member from this episode. The story of the day: at least sixteen passenger flights across Europe were targeted by bomb threats in a single day. Fighter jets went up in France, Italy and Bulgaria. An Aer Lingus A320 from Dublin to Rome was escorted down to a French air base in Normandy. In every case reported so far, the searches found nothing. Alan talks through the one bomb threat he handled as captain in northern Canada, and what the four-hour disruption did to the rest of the day. Your comments on last week's OR Tambo rant led us to the Border Management Authority, which runs the immigration desks and says it is operating at about a quarter of the staff it needs. Gauteng has lent it 80 crime prevention wardens to work as immigration officers. February's budget gave it R990 million to fill 738 posts. Meanwhile Airports Company South Africa posted a R1.2 billion profit and is spending R14.5 billion on OR Tambo over five years, starting with 90 toilets and then 780 more. Then storm season. A hailstorm that arrived in fifteen minutes, why leaving the weather radar on auto tilt is a bad habit, and Alan unpacks what "certified for known icing" actually covers: aircraft certified before 2015 cannot tell you when you are in severe icing, and if you find yourself there you are in an emergency, not a stay-and-play situation. Ryanair's half-year profit fell 15% to €2.15 billion. It carried 6% more passengers at 4% lower fares, and it is now looking at a fuel bill about €2 billion higher next year as its hedges run out. Emirates reported a 66% drop in half-year profit on the same day. And a European Cockpit Association survey of 7,200 pilots found more than three in four had experienced microsleeps while operating an aircraft in the past four weeks. IN THIS EPISODE The Tribunal approves Harith's takeover of FlySafair, and the conditions attached Sixteen bomb threats across Europe in one day, and what a pilot actually does with one Airlines asking for bomb threat and cockpit attack scenarios in training OR Tambo passport queues: the Border Management Authority, the wardens, the money and the e-gates Storm season, weather radar and icing certification explained Jets versus turboprops in bad weather Ryanair's profit drop and how airlines survive a fuel shock Fatigue and falling asleep on the flight deck Your comments: SAA's future, SAA's crew, and the crash axe I'm Bryan Roseveare. I was an airline captain. I still go to work on the flight deck. It's just a full flight simulator now, and the pilots I train are the ones who fly you around. SOURCES Business Day, 29 October 2026: Harith's R7bn FlySafair deal cleared for final take-off → https://www.businessday.co.za/companies/2026-10-29-hariths-r7bn-flysafair-deal-cleared-for-final-take-off/ Travel News, 29 October 2026: Tribunal approves FlySafair takeover → https://www.travelnews.co.za/article/tribunal-approves-flysafair-takeover The Citizen, 18 August 2026: CemAir asks tribunal to prohibit Harith acquisition of Safair → https://citizen.co.za/business/cemair-asks-tribunal-to-prohibit-harith-acquisition-of-safair AeroTime, 5 November 2026: Bomb threats hit 16 European flights, prompt fighter escorts → https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/bomb-threats-europe-flights-fighter-escorts-diversions Sunday World, 5 October 2026: OR Tambo immigration headache, staff shortages lead to long queues → https://sundayworld.co.za/news/or-tambo-immigration-headache-staff-shortages-lead-to-long-queues/ Business Report, 25 February 2026: Budget 2026, Border Management Authority to get R990 million to fill 738 critical positions → https://businessreport.co.za/business/2026-02-25-budget-2026-border-management-authority-to-get-r990-million-to-fill-738-critical-positions/ BusinessTech, 6 February 2026: R14.5 billion expansion at South Africa's busiest international airport → https://businesstech.co.za/news/government/850085/r14-5-billion-expansion-at-south-africas-busiest-international-airport/ EWN, 9 September 2026: ACSA takes flight with bumper earnings as passenger numbers grow → https://www.ewn.co.za/acsa-takes-flight-with-bumper-earnings-as-passenger-numbers-grow/ Euronews, 2 November 2026: Ryanair eyes cost cuts as it faces a €2 billion rise in its fuel bill next year → https://www.euronews.com/2026/11/02/ryanair-eyes-cost-cuts-as-it-faces-a-2-billion-rise-in-its-fuel-bill-next-year Emirates Group, 5 November 2026: Half-year results for 2026-27 → https://www.emirates.com/media-centre/emirates-group-announces-half-year-profit-for-2026-27-despite-full-six-month-impact-of-regional-conflict-and-high-fuel-costs/ Flying Magazine, 29 October 2026: Survey, 3 in 4 European pilots report sleeping on duty → https://www.flyingmag.com/survey-3-in-4-european-pilots-sleeping-on-duty/ TimesLIVE, 5 November 2026: SAA seeks R23m from Kenya Airways in bitter airline revenue dispute → https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2026-11-05-saa-seeks-r23m-from-kenya-airways-in-bitter-airline-revenue-dispute/ SUPPORT THE SHOW Patreon is what keeps this channel producing. It helps massively, and it is the best way to support what I do. Support on Patreon → https://www.patreon.com/bryanair Every episode, the full back catalogue and everything we talk about on the show lives in one place. Bryan Air → https://bryanairpodcast.com/ THANK YOU TO OUR PATREON SUPPORTERS Thank you to the people who have been carrying the show, some of them for years: Dale Williams Duncan Gillespie Franziska Jaco Mike Mason Iain Findlay Caroline Koll ACE Catharine Alan Macaulay Craig Wood Imre Kurucz Kelvin Charman Gabedi Mosupukwa Ian Mark Gondwe