Helicopter operator - news from 2006
Helicopter at centre of High Court tug-of-war
The Mercury March 17, 2006
A High Court dispute is raging between Gauteng-based King Air Services Partnership and the office of KwaZulu-Natal Premier S'bu Ndebele over the ownership of a 1996 Bell helicopter.
The province maintained in papers before the Pietermaritzburg High Court that it had temporarily leased the helicopter to King Air on June 26 last year, while awaiting a decision by the province's Central Procurement Committee on whether to accept an offer from the company to buy both the helicopter and a Baron fixed-wing aircraft from the province.
The province maintained that the lease agreement was cancelled when King Air's offer was not accepted, and that it had since accepted an offer from another buyer.
Graeme Clarke of King Air maintained that his company had concluded a valid agreement of sale with the province and that it had tendered payment of the agreed purchase price.
He stated in court documents that although ownership had not yet passed to his company, the company demanded compliance with the alleged agreement.
The Mercury discovered on Thursday that the sheriff of the high court had attached the helicopter, which had been grounded at Lanseria Airport pending the outcome of the case.
According to an affidavit by Ndanduleni Mutheiwana, General Manager of Air Transport, Gaming and Betting in the province, the offer to purchase the helicopter and aircraft by King Air had been turned down by the procurement committee on September 1 2005.
The date for the next hearing of the dispute is April 28.