Malawi to sell 49 pct of airline to Comair

Malawi has agreed to sell 49 percent of the national airline to South Africa's Comair, Deputy Transport Minister Roy Commsy said on Wednesday.

Commsy said the southern African nation had decided to engage a strategic partner for the struggling Air Malawi as part of a drive to lessen the government's financial burden in key sectors, including transport and telecommunications.

"Comair wanted 80 percent but we have insisted that they get 49 percent and we believe that this is in the best interest of the nation," Commsy told Reuters.

Comair, a partner of British Airways, emerged as the front-runner to buy Air Malawi last year but the government stopped the sale after refusing to give the South African company 80 percent control.

The government, which decided to sell Air Malawi in 2000, has said that Comair's shares in the airline will gradually grow to 80 percent and that the government will guarantee loans for the new company, Comair Malawi Ltd, through the issuance of bonds.

Malawi's trade unions have criticized the government's privatization campaign, arguing that previous sales of state assets led to job losses and failed to make companies profitable.

Established in 1967, Air Malawi has two Boeing aircraft and one other plane. Its international routes include flights to East Africa and Johannesburg and several other cities.