Comair would still be the small niche airline they always were if they hadn’t taken on the BA franchise in 1996; it was this that finally put them on the map.
It is my personal view that Comair didn’t like sharing the income of the BA operation with BA and therefore set up Kulula in 2001. It's no wonder that Kulula is ‘bankrupting’ BA Comair, they compete with them self on the same route with the same aircraft and pilots. You just have to look at the flight timings JNB-CPT; Kulula has a 0750 flight, pretty much peak time, while BA Comair has nothing between 0700 and 0930!
There was a big fanfare when BA Comair got the 737-400’s from Big BA, the next thing you know these same aircraft are in use by Kulula in Kulula livery………. then another fanfare………. BA Comair gets 737-300’s from Qantas!!!
I don’t think dumping the BA franchise seems to be an option otherwise Comair would have done it a long time ago and anyway BA still owns 18% of Comair.