South African Airways to restart operations from Sept 23
South Africa's State-owned national carrier South African Airways (SAA) will restart flying between limited destinations from Sept. 23, it said on Twitter, a year after it halted operations as it failed to pay its debt.
Last month the government had said that it was selling a 51% stake in the carrier to Takatso consortium, which had committed more than 3 billion rand ($200 million) to bring the airline back from the brink and restart operations.
SAA is one of a number of South Africa's debt-laden state enterprises that have regularly depended on government bailouts. It entered a form of bankruptcy protection in December 2019, but its condition worsened as the Covid-19 pandemic restricted air travel and hurt its minimal cash flows further.
"After months of diligent work, we are delighted that SAA is resuming service," the airline said on Twitter, quoting interim chief executive Thomas Kgokolo.
Initially, SAA will operate flights from Johannesburg to Cape Town, Accra, Kinshasa, Harare, Lusaka and Maputo, the statement on Twitter said, adding that more destinations will be added to the route network as it ramps up operations in response to market conditions.
Last month, Tshepo Mahloele, chairman of Takatso consortium, which includes pan-African investor group Harith Global Partners and aviation group Global Aviation, had said that the 3 billion rand it had committed should be sufficient to operate the airline for 12 to 36 months.
Comments
The
functionality
you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.
If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.
If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.
For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation