All South African Airways articles
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AnalysisAirline Business Weekly Briefing: Vaccine inequity weighs on African recovery
The danger is that in a world where Covid jabs are the main currency for international travel, a region such as Africa, where only around 2% of the population has received a vaccine dose, is further pushed into the mire.
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News
Opposition and unions concerned government will abandon Mango
South Africa’s political opposition and aviation unions are concerned that the government is prepared to abandon South African Airways’ subsidiaries, including operator Mango, in order to remove potential obstacles to the proposed strategic partnership deal for the flag-carrier. Under a legislative act for special appropriations, signed off on 6 ...
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News
Low-cost unit Mango to enter business rescue: SAA chief
South African Airways’ (SAA) challenged low-cost carrier unit Mango Airlines is set to enter a formal business rescue process, the acting head of its parent airline Thomas Kgokolo has disclosed.
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News
SAA reaches peace deal with pilots after months of wrangling
South African Airways has reached an agreement with its pilots’ association which, it hopes, will mark an end to a drawn-out conflict over the carrier’s restructuring programme. The carrier says members of the cockpit association have overwhelmingly backed the agreement, with almost 95% voting in favour. Negotiations have ...
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News
Opposition sceptical over details of SAA public-private pact
South Africa’s political opposition has expressed characteristic scepticism over the public-private partnership unveiled for flag-carrier South African Airways, questioning the financing of the proposed agreement. The Democratic Alliance says the deal includes the Takatso consortium’s acquiring a 51% stake in SAA and providing R3 billion ($220 million) in capital. ...
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News
South African government to sell majority of SAA to investor consortium
South Africa’s government is to sell a majority share in South African Airways to a consortium of investors, as part of the effort to relaunch the troubled flag-carrier. Preferred investment consortium Takatso would take a 51% stake in the airline while the government would retain the balance, as well ...
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News
South African airline woes continue as Mango reportedly set to pause flights
Low-cost carrier Mango appears to be the latest South African operator to run into financial difficulties amid reports the airline could temporarily suspend flights in May and seek to enter a formal restructuring until it can secure state funds.
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News
Ethiopian reports lack of progress in SAA joint-venture talks
Ethiopian Airlines is making slow progress with talks regarding cooperation with South African Airways, according to the former’s chief executive Tewolde Gebremariam.
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News
Government urged to direct SAA rescue funds to vaccine resource
South Africa’s political opposition is urging the country’s finance minister, Tito Mboweni, to abandon the R10 billion ($680 million) funding plan to restructure South African Airways and plough the capital into a vaccination programme. The Democratic Alliance has written to Mboweni claiming that the government should “divert” the SAA ...
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News
Airlink loses case to retrieve revenues held by former partner SAA
South African carrier Airlink has failed to convince the country’s Supreme Court of Appeal that it is owed R510 million ($33 million) in ticket funds held by South African Airways. The court has upheld a Gauteng high court decision rejecting Airlink’s claim to the ticket revenues collected by SAA ...
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News
Government defends public funding of SAA rescue plan
South Africa’s government has defended its R10.5 billion ($640 million) funding of South African Airways’ rescue plan, insisting that the financing will help finalise the restructuring and assist the selection of a strategic equity partner. It is dismissing criticism of the plan from the Democratic Alliance, its political opposition, ...
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News
South Africans urged to boycott SAA over government bailout
South African citizens are being urged to boycott flag-carrier South African Airways by an anti-maladministration organisation which focuses on the country’s state-owned enterprises. The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse has sharply criticised the South African finance ministry’s bailout of SAA in its mid-term budget, after months of uncertainty over the ...
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News
Finance minister castigated as state bails out SAA
South African Airways is to be allocated R10.5 billion ($642 million) to implement its business rescue plan, the country’s finance minister has disclosed in a speech to parliament. Tito Mboweni outlined the funding in a medium-term budget policy statement on 28 October. He said that R10.5 billion would ...
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News
SAA maintenance arm lifts service suspension against house carriers
South African Airways’ maintenance arm, SAA Technical, has started reinstating its services after suspending them to four customers over outstanding payments. It says it has reached an agreement with two of these customers – SAA itself and sister carrier Mango – but is still holding talks with the other ...
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News
SAA suspends operations as rescuers seek to preserve finances
South African Airways has suspended all airline operations while its rescuers assess options to obtain urgent funding for the embattled flag-carrier. While the government has been claiming continuous engagement with potential funding sources, SAA’s rescue practitioners have warned of dwindling reserves, and have been keeping creditors updated over the ...
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Opinion
South Africa’s airline sector can overcome challenges
The country has been hit hard by Covid-19, exacerbating connectivity challenges created by SAA’s retrenchment, but there is hope that the sector will recover, writes Zuks Ramasia, chief executive of the Board of Airline Representatives of South Africa
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News
South African Airways will not be liquidated: government
South Africa’s government is insisting that flag-carrier South African Airways will not be liquidated, and that it will detail measures relating to funding the airline in upcoming legislation. Its department of public enterprises gave the reassurance as creditors met to discuss the airline’s future, after its rescue practitioners warned ...
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News
SAA creditors to meet as critical rescue funds fail to materialise
South African Airways’ rescue practitioners are to call a meeting of creditors to discuss the future of the troubled company after doubts emerged over crucial government funding for the airline’s business plan. The practitioners had warned on 10 September that procuring the funding necessary to support the plan was ...
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News
SAA restructuring team sifts through unsolicited investor approaches
More than 10 unsolicited approaches expressing interest in South African Airways have been received from potential investors and partners. The South African government’s department of public enterprises states that the approaches concern SAA and its subsidiaries Mango Airlines, SAA Technical, and catering arm Air Chefs. “[We have] been ...
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News
Opposition remains highly suspicious over SAA rescue funding
South Africa’s treasury has yet to detail how it intends to fund the rescue plan for South African Airways, as the country’s political opposition warns that it will intervene to prevent any illegitimate attempts to finance the airline’s revival. While finance minister Tito Mboweni appears to have reassured the ...
