SAA administrators see reasonable chance of rescuing airline

The administrators of South Africa’s bankrupt state-owned airline said they see a “reasonable prospect of rescuing” it.

The administrators, known locally as Business Rescue Practitioners, have been at loggerheads with Pravin Gordhan, the minister of Public Enterprises, after they said they wanted to wind the airline down. He accused them of squandering money and a lack of transparency.

“Discussions are now being held between the BRPs and the shareholder to possibly restructure the airline,” the administrators said in a statement. “An announcement in this regard will be made in due course as well as an agreed timeline for the consultation on the business rescue plan.”

The administrators said to rescue the airline they will need “unequivocal commitment” and “the requisite funding.”

The government has said there is no more money available for SAA. The airline has been unprofitable since 2011 and has been surviving on government bailouts.

In the statement, the administrators rejected allegations made by Gordhan and labor unions. They said they had cut operational costs by 500 million rand ($29 million) a month and said they hadn’t been able to submit a rescue plan because the coronavirus outbreak had “nullified” their assumptions.

“South African Airways is not so much as reconstructing it, but what role government should play in the airline and if it should be the controlling shareholder,” said Paul Mashatile, Treasurer General of the ruling African National Congress. “We want a model where the state still has some ownership and with a private sector partner or partners who have the money and expertise to turn it around and we still have a national flag carrier.”