South Africa: Aviation

The Low-altitude economy, a new era of economic activity, is gaining traction.

A recent judgment from the High Court in Johannesburg explores whether ownership of an object may pass to another by virtue of the principle of constitutum possessorium...

It has been reported that airline carrier Mango, currently under business rescue, may be purchased and that the practitioner is awaiting confirmation of funding as well as a bank guarantee from a potential buyer.

Owners of licensed airfields have an onerous obligation to ensure that services provided to pilots are adequate, safe and reliable. There is little room for error. There is a general statutory and common law duty to maintain an airfield in a proper manner and to warn pilots of problems that may endanger safe operation to and from the airfield.

A case of alleged abuse of dominance recently came before the Competition Tribunal. South African Airways (SAA) stood accused of abusing its dominant position in one market (the market for air tickets sold through travel agents for domestic scheduled airline flights) to exclude competitors from a second market (the market of scheduled domestic airline flights).

In the recent yet unreported case in the Johannesburg High Court of Impala Platinum vs. KLM and another, a consignor of certain valuable goods instituted action against an airline as the carrier of the goods for the payment of a substantial amount being the alleged value of the goods which were lost en route to a foreign destination.