South African Black-empowerment investment firm Harith General Partners and affiliates have signed a sale and purchase agreement to acquire full ownership of FlySafair (FA, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo), subject to regulatory approvals, including from South Africa's Competition Commission.

The deal, the value of which was not disclosed, effectively makes the airline partly state-owned. Harith is partly owned by the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), a South African government-owned company. It is South Africa’s largest asset management firm and manages public sector funds, including the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF).

"The airline is being acquired as a going concern with a clear focus on continuity of our operations, strategy, our brand, and our leadership team, which will all remain unchanged," commented CCO Kirby Gordon.

FlySafair has been under pressure to rectify concerns over foreign ownership violation. While South African civil aviation regulations require a 75% South African ownership, the Air Services Licensing Council found that Irish firm ASL Aviation Holdings effectively controlled 74.86% of FlySafair through a trust structure. FlySafair won an urgent court interdict suspending a February 2026 deadline to fix its ownership structure, when the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria in October 2025 set aside an Air Services Licensing Council order pending a judicial review.

"Negotiations on this transaction were already underway some time before the Air Services Licensing Council issued its finding on FlySafair's [ownership] structure. While this is not an automatic remedy, we believe that it is a constructive step, and we will continue to engage transparently with these regulators, whose approval of the new structure is a requirement for the transaction," Gordon stated.

In November 2025, FlySafair declined to comment on a report that Harith General Partners was courting the airline for a Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) deal that could give the South African state indirect control of the operator.

The Citizen newspaper earlier reported that a deal with FlySafair, if concluded, could give Harith General Partners indirect control of 76% of the domestic aviation market through FlySafair's 60% domestic market share, plus South African Airways' state-ownership.

Based in Johannesburg, Harith made headlines when it lead the Takatso Aviation Consortium in 2021 as a key partner, alongside Global Aviation Operations, in an unsuccessful bid to acquire a 51% share in South African Airways, then emerging from business rescue. Harith also earlier considered investing in now-defunct South African Express (Johannesburg O.R. Tambo), but ultimately decided not to pursue the acquisition.

The GEPF, represented by the PIC, and the Pan African Infrastructure Development Fund (PAIDF), which is managed by Harith General Partners, also control Johannesburg Lanseria airport.

ASL Aviation Holdings, in a separate statement, confirmed that it has sold its interest in FlySafair to Harith General Partners and its affiliates. It said the financial details of the transaction were not being disclosed.