Miles van der Molen: Skewed aviation market, regulatory failures behind FlySafair saga

CemAir CEO Miles van der Molen tells Alec Hogg that the FlySafair pilot strike is the result of long-standing regulatory neglect and a broken aviation market. He warns that FlySafair’s foreign ownership advantage has distorted competition and left South African pilots with fewer options.Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here.The auditorium doors will open for BNIC#2 on 10 September 2025 in Hermanus. For more information and tickets, click here..Watch here.Listen here.BizNews Reporter.The FlySafair pilot strike, now the longest in South African history, is not just a labour dispute. That is the view of CemAir CEO Miles van der Molen, who told BizNews the current disruption is the direct result of regulatory inaction and a distorted domestic aviation market.“This was always coming,” van der Molen said. “The conditions were created by a failure to enforce the rules that should apply to every airline.”At the centre of the problem is FlySafair’s ownership structure. Back in 2023, competitors raised the alarm when it emerged that FlySafair’s parent company, ASL Aviation, is based in Ireland. This gave the airline access to cheaper capital and lease rates, advantages that local airlines could not match.Regulators acknowledged the issue but did nothing to address it. No penalty, no ruling, no clarity. That vacuum allowed FlySafair to expand rapidly, capturing an estimated 60 percent of the local air travel market.Van der Molen said this dominance is unprecedented outside of the old SAA days. “If everyone played by the same rules, there would be no issue. But when one airline is allowed to bend the rules and others are forced to comply, the entire market becomes unbalanced.”The imbalance is not only commercial. It affects workers too. Pilots who are unhappy with conditions at FlySafair have fewer places to go. Van der Molen said many are now leaving the country altogether, seeking jobs in more stable and competitive environments abroad.The strike itself began after FlySafair shifted its rostering system earlier this year. Pilots objected to the lack of rest time and claimed mental health concerns were being ignored. The union representing them, Solidarity, called for a one-day strike. FlySafair responded with a lockout. The dispute escalated from there.Van der Molen is not convinced by the union’s public messaging. “South Africa has very clear and internationally - aligned flight duty limits. The suggestion that pilots are being overworked beyond those limits is misleading.”.Read more:.BN Briefing: Pretoria Girls scandal deepens; Safair strike; Gupta mansion; Bitcoin goes corporate.He added that this is not the first time Solidarity has used this narrative. A similar message was pushed during the SAA strike in 2023. Still, he acknowledged that tensions are high and both sides have dug in.“There’s a fear that if FlySafair gives in to the pilots, flight attendants and engineers will follow. On the other side, the union believes any compromise now will weaken their position in future negotiations. It’s a standoff.”CemAir has taken a different approach. Its pilots are not unionised. “We believe in direct negotiation. That has helped us avoid these kinds of blow-ups,” van der Molen said.For now, the effects are being felt by passengers. On major triangle routes such as Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town, about half of FlySafair’s flights have been withdrawn. Smaller routes are less affected, but demand is spilling over. Prices have risen and capacity is tightening.Could CemAir or other airlines fill the gap? “On some days, yes,” said van der Molen. “But not every day. Especially not on peak days. This has hit the market hard.”Despite the opportunity, CemAir has no plans to expand its domestic operations unless the broader regulatory issues are addressed. “We would rather grow abroad than invest further in a market where the rules are applied unevenly.”The licensing councils that oversee compliance were meant to address the FlySafair ownership issue last year. Their term ended without a decision. A new set of councillors has been appointed, but van der Molen said confidence in the process is low.“The regulators allowed this situation to develop. They have a responsibility to fix it. Either let everyone access foreign capital, or enforce the rules. But do something.”Asked whether a resolution to the strike is in sight, he was cautious. “Eventually, people have to find a way forward. But it might take longer than anyone expects.”Van der Molen believes the real solution lies in opening up the market fairly. “Let pilots vote with their feet. Let airlines compete on equal terms. That’s the only way this gets resolved.”Until then, he said, South African aviation remains vulnerable - not just to strikes, but to something worse: systemic failure.

Miles van der Molen: Skewed aviation market, regulatory failures behind FlySafair saga

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