Dublin-based ASL Aviation has agreed to sell its interest in South African low-cost carrier FlySafair to local investors Harith General Partners. The value of the deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, has not been disclosed. Launched in 2014 with three aircraft, FlySafair is described by ASL as the "market leader" in South Africa, accounting for more than two-thirds of domestic seat capacity. It operates a fleet of 39 Boing 737s and has carried 54 million passengers. As well as domestic services, it operates routes to Mauritius, Namibia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. "ASL Aviation Holdings is proud to have supported the growth of a fledgling airline to become a leader in African aviation, opening air travel to millions of South Africans for the first time," states group chief executive Dave Andrew, who served as FlySafair's founding chief. "With new international routes now added to its network, the time has come to pass the baton to Harith who are ideally placed to oversee the airline's continued development and growth." In February last year, regulators gave FlySafair 12 months to rectify an earlier breach of local ownership requirements. South Africa's Air Services Licensing Council ruled in December 2024 that it did not meet a legal requirement to have 75% of its shareholder voting rights held by "natural persons who are citizens and residents of South Africa". The airline said at the time that it had been given a year to align with the requirements. "We will do everything in our power to ensure compliance in these 12 months," stated marketing chief Kirby Gordon. Johannesburg-based Harith General Partners is a pan-African infrastructure investor with a strong focus on transportation, energy, connectivity and logistics. "Aviation is core infrastructure," states Tshepo Mahloele, who co-founded and chairs of Harith. "FlySafair has demonstrated how affordable, reliable air travel can unlock growth, jobs and opportunity. We are excited to support the next phase of this journey." Safair was ranked first in Cirium's 2025 on-time performance rankings for the Middle East and Africa after 91% of its flights landed within 15min of scheduled arrival time.

Italy's ITA Airways is resuming services from Rome Fiumicino to London Heathrow for the summer season. The carrier states that it will "further enhance connectivity" between the hubs with a twice-daily service. ITA axed the previous link in March 2024, data from slot co-ordinator ACL shows that ITA has been granted a temporary lease of two daily slots at Heathrow from Lufthansa subsidiary Eurowings from 29 March to 26 October. Lufthansa Group has owned 41% of ITA since January last year, and the two companies have been integrating their operations. Data shows that ITA currently operates from Rome to London City airport, but this service will cease for the summer season. Across the coming summer season. the airline will operate to 19 domestic, 36 international and 17 intercontinental destinations as well as 12 seasonal ones to Italian, Greek and Spanish islands. Last year, Cirium data shows, it operated 71 summer routes. A new intercontinental route to Houston will be operated from 1 May, with three weekly flights initially, rising to five from June. That will be the first-ever direct connection between the Texan city and Rome. ITA notes that it is continuing the integration process with Lufthansa Group, encompassing 63 projects "aimed at generating benefits in terms of increased revenues and cost reductions". It highlights existing synergies including codeshares, loyalty programme co-operation, lounge access, alignment of fare structures, cargo traffic management and optimisation of flight-handling operations at the airlines' hubs.

South African Airways has reported a group net profit of R155 million ($9.6 million) for the year to end-March 2025, as it continued to rebuild its fleet and network after emerging from business rescue in 2021. This represents a recovery from a R354 million net loss the preceding year. Revenue rose 36% to R8.8 billion. The airline business – separately from the MRO, cargo and catering units – delivered a R30 million net profit. South Africa's transport minister Barbara Creecy, who oversees ownership of the nationalised company, describes the net result as "modest", while noting that SAA has passed the last of five outstanding audits. The airline's fleet expanded to 14 aircraft at the end of the period and has since risen to 19. It received permission to expand to 21 during the 2025 fiscal year. SAA notes that it has "methodically rebuilt" its network to 17 routes, resuming flights to Perth in April 2024. It also launched international routes to Lubumbashi and Dar es Salaam. "These results demonstrate that despite numerous challenges, SAA is on course for a bright future," states group chief executive John Lamola. "We have entered a period of structured and strategic stabilisation of the business, focusing on institutionalising robust governance and agile management systems. We are continuing to implement plans on aircraft fleet modernisation and route network expansion aimed at elevation of customer experience."