South African Airways has been placed into “business rescue” – modus

South African Airways (SAA) has been placed into business rescue modus, Minister of Public Enterprises P.J. Gordhan wrote in a statement. “Over the past two days, the Government has taken the necessary steps to pave the way for an orderly and methodical restructuring process at SAA,” he added. 

“An optimal mechanism to restore confidence in SAA and to safeguard the good assets of SAA and help to restructure and reposition the entity into one that is stronger, more sustainable and able to grow and attract an equity partner. 

Our desire is that the restructured airline will mark the beginning of a new era in South African aviation and must be able to bring in millions more tourists into the country; help create more jobs in tourism and related sectors of the economy and work with other African airlines to underpin and service the integration of African markets and improve dramatically intra-African trade and travel.”

The business rescue process will allow SAA to continue operating in an orderly and safe manner and to keep aircraft and passengers flying under the direction of a business rescue practitioner.

The South African government will give SAA an additional R2 billion (€124 million) in “a fiscally neutral manner” to help keep the airline operational.