Velvet Sky was a low cost airline based at the King Shaka International Airport near Durban, South Africa.

Confirming the purchase of the airline, Excalibur Aerospace announced that they would retain Dhevan Pillay as CEO and Gary Webb as COO.

Temporary measures were put in place to secure fuel, but by late February the supplier, BP Southern Africa, had applied to the Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal high court for a liquidation order against the airline.

[citation needed] The ground handling service provider, Menzies Aviation, had also been engaged in payment disputes with the airline for some time.

[citation needed] On 22 February 2012 hundreds of passengers were left stranded at Cape Town International Airport, Velvet Sky Airlines confirmed that its flights were delayed because of a dispute with a service provider.

The court gave Umzamo Transport Services (which is owed about R4 million) until 10 April to file supplementary papers to support its rescue plan application.