South African airline Comair is continuing its strategy of building a strong presence across Africa with news that the group is now in talks with the Malawian government to buy a stake in Air Malawi.

“We see opportunities to work with progressive governments in Africa that realise that they don’t need to own their national airline and that they can benefit from the expertise we offer,” said Gidon Novick, joint CEO of Comair.

The Malawian government announced in 2000 that it intended to sell Air Malawi, and earlier this week said Comair would be taking a 49% stake in the airline, though this is expected to gradually increase to 80%.

Comair is currently in talks to take over the management of Air Botswana.