PE fund Harith in talks to buy FlySafair

South African private equity firm Harith General Partners plans to acquire budget carrier FlySafair as the investor with $3 billion in assets expands its transport portfolio on the continent.

Talks with the nation’s biggest airline are at an advanced stage and subject to approvals by regulators including the antitrust authorities and two licensing bodies, Harith Chairman Tshepo Mahloele said. The PE firm will purchase the carrier through Harith Aviation, and the transaction should concluded by the fourth quarter, he said.

Read: Cabin crew lockout tests FlySafair’s resilience ahead of festive rush

The deal will help FlySafair — which controls more than 60% of domestic seat capacity — address regulatory pressure to meet South African ownership rules. The Domestic Air Services Council in 2024 said that the carrier was in breach because trusts and companies — not people — own 75% of the airline’s voting rights. The ruling followed a complaint by local rival Lift.

“The deal will make up about 15% of our overall portfolio and will be funded through a mix of equity and debt,” Mahloele said in an interview, without giving financial details. “South Africa is FlySafair’s stronghold and important to their strategy, and we believe their model can also be competitive regionally.”

Read: Airline overbooking ‘illegal’ – consumer commission

FlySafair had about a year to comply with the requirements or face having its license revoked. A deal may assist with the permit issues, although the airline still needs to follow due process, FlySafair Chief Marketing Officer Kirby Gordon said.

Dublin-based ASL Aviation Holdings, which is owned by London-based private equity firm Star Capital Partners, partly controls the South African carrier’s parent company, Safair Operations.

Harith was previously also interested in buying a stake in national carrier South African Airways, but the government terminated the deal after three years of talks.

“There were issues on control and pricing in the end and we had to move on, but our ambitions to add an airline onto our transport sector continued,” said Mahloele.

Read: FlySafair exemption request ‘premature’ says minister

The PE company also considered acquiring a stake in Comair, the local partner IAG SA’s British Airways, but the South African carrier collapsed in 2022.

“In the end, the FlySafair opportunity has been the best proposition so far,” said Mahloele. “There is a great management team and it holds significant market share.”

Harith invests in infrastructure across Africa, and also owns a stake in Lanseria International Airport northwest of Johannesburg.

For its part, the airline has sought a change in its ownership structure since 2017, reaching a merger agreement with SA Airlink, only for antitrust authorities to prohibit the transaction in 2018.

Qatar Airways bought a 25% stake in SA Airlink in 2024.

Read: Is FlySafair too big to ground?

Harith plans to maintain the management and strategy of FlySafair, which has 10 domestic and five regional routes, said Gordon.

“Our regional expansion commenced just after Covid, and while small relative to the South African domestic market, forms an important part of the airline’s long-term expansion plans,” he said.

© 2026 Bloomberg

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