Tata Sons has started the process to merge Air India, the flag carrier airline of India, with low-cost carrier AirAsia India. 

In a legal notice to the Competition Commission of India (CCI), seen by Times of India on April 27, 2022, Air India notified the local competition regulator about its proposed aim to merge with low-cost carrier AirAsia India.  

“The proposed combination relates to the acquisition of the entire equity share capital of AirAsia India Private Limited by Air India Ltd- an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Sons Private Limited (TSPL). At present, TSPL holds 83.67% of the equity share capital of AirAsia India,” the document states. 

The consolidation of both airlines means that merged airlines will hold roughly a 16% share of the local domestic passenger market. However, Air India ensured that the proposed merger “will not lead to any change in the competitive landscape or cause any appreciable adverse effect on competition in India, irrespective of the manner in which the relevant markets are defined”. 

Tata Sons, which currently owns an 83.67% share in AirAsia India, formally took control of Air India on January 27, 2022. Since then, the new owner of the loss-making airline has initiated a gradual consolidation of both businesses.  

In February 2022, immediately after Air India’s privatization, the two airlines signed an Interline Considerations on Irregular Operations (IROP) cooperation agreement, where Air India and AirAsia India agreed to serve each other’s domestic customers to minimize passenger inconvenience in the event of flight disruptions. 

After taking control of Air India, Tata Sons holds shares in four Indian airlines, including AirAsia India, Vistara, and Air India Express. The Mumbai-based conglomerate reportedly plans to move all four carriers to a 70,000 square feet office near Delhi.  

Source: Aerotime Hub

Beginning in November this year, Uganda Airlines will launch its long-awaited direct flights between Entebbe International Airport and London’s Heathrow Airport, using its Airbus A330-800neo for the route.

A year’s delay

The new route announcement comes days after Uganda’s President Museveni made threats to take action against the national carrier for the long delay in making direct flights to the UK. This happened during a recent meeting with the UK Trade envoy for Uganda and Rwanda, Lord Popat, and the British High Commissioner to Uganda, Kate Airey.

President Museveni said he would soon enforce pushable actions on the Civil Aviation Authority and Uganda Airlines to get the paper sorted quickly, saying:

“What has helped Uganda to recover has been the army and private sector, in spite of the obstacles caused by public service. They have helped the economy recover. The airline people are well paid. Why can’t they finish the issue of direct flights? They are the enemy of the country.”

The fury stemmed from concerns within the UK trade envoy asking about when the flights to London would happen, with Lord Popat suggesting that the Ugandan government work on the issue of starting flights to promote investments and tourism quickly.

He was just as willing to help speed up the process, saying:

“If Uganda is willing, we are ready to send our aviation people here to help CAA so that we can have direct flights to the UK.”

Regulation problems

Quite shockingly, Uganda Airlines was granted rights and slots to commence flights to London last year, with a then-planned arrival to Heathrow at 06:45 am and departure at 09:00 am.

The granting of slots came after an analysis revealed that over 84,000 passengers flew on the Entebbe to London flight on a two-way point-to-point basis in 2019, making Entebbe the second-largest unserved market from Africa to London.

However, the flights to London never began. According to the airline’s acting Chief Executive Officer, Jenifer Bamuturaki, the UK aviation body required Uganda Airlines to apply for a foreign carrier permit.

The requirement is one of the changes caused by Brexit regulation. All non-UK air carriers wishing to undertake commercial services to, from, or within the UK must hold a Foreign Carrier Permit before that flight is launched – a process that usually takes up to six months.

Problem solved

It would undoubtedly seem that the regulatory problems have now been solved. Although, the timings are yet to be announced after further consideration of other flights feeding into the London route. Moreover, the Uganda-London way will operate thrice weekly on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

With the establishment of London flights settled, Uganda Airlines is looking to expand its regional network, with plans for flight services to the Democratic Republic of Congo in the making.

And in terms of going much farther, the airline is also looking to further dominate the international market with many more long-haul routes, including the resumption of flights to Dubai back in October last year. By the end of 2023, the Ugandan national carrier is eyeing Guangzhou using the Airbus A330-800neo aircraft.

Source: Simple Flying

A report detailing the performance of Air Tanzania Company (ATCL) during the fiscal year 2020/21, has revealed that the airline increased its revenue and almost halved its losses for that period. 

The performance of the flag carrier’s regional fleet contributed to the airline’s increase in revenue. ATCL’s four Bombardier Q400s and two Airbus A220s broke-even after recording a marginal profit of TZS 12.26 billion ($5.27 million) and TZS 12.09 billion ($5.20 million) respectively for the year ending June 30, 2021. 

According to Tanzania’s Controller and Auditor General, Charles E Kichere, ATCL reduced its total losses by 40% in FY 2020/21 compared to FY 2019/20. The airline cut its operating losses from TZS 60.25 billion ($25.9 million) in 2019/20 to TZS 36.18 billion ($15.5 million) in 2020/21.  

Kichere ascribed the reduction to ATCL’s management trimming the airline’s direct costs by 3%. 

Additionally, the flag carrier increased its total revenue by TZS 16.99 billion ($7.31 million) to record TZS 174.59 billion ($75.1 million) during the year 2020/21, up from TZS 157.60 billion ($6.78 million) in 2019/20. This is an 11% increase from the previous year, says Kichere. 

Despite being hampered by low demand as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the report attributes ATCL’s financial results to the performance of its fleet. 

“The consecutive losses were due to inability of the individual aircraft to attain break-even point,” said Kichere. 

From June 30, 2021, ATCL operated a fleet of nine aircraft: two Boeing 787s, four Bombardier Q400s, two Airbus A220s and One Dash-8 Q300. 

However, Air Tanzania’s single Dash-8 Q300 was not operational in 2020/21, having been grounded for more than three years over unresolved repair issues.  

A delay in starting operations on international routes contributed to the underperformance of airline’s long-haul fleet. ATCL’s 787s recorded higher operational costs than revenue generated, resulting in a loss of TZS 23.61 billion ($10.1 million). 

Kichere said: “The underperformance of the Boeing aircraft was attributed to the reasons of low load factors, few destinations (routes) in comparison with planned cycles.”  

Source: Aerotime Hub

Kenya Airways Plc and South African Airways are planning a series of investor roadshows to help find a financial backer for a combined airline group they aim to create next year.

The campaign to attract a majority investor for a holding company to be modeled on British Airways and Iberia owner IAG SA is likely to start before the end of the northern-hemisphere summer, Kenya Airways Chief Executive Officer Allan Kilavuka said in an interview on Thursday. Events will be staged in Africa, London and the U.S.

The governments of Kenya and South Africa plan to take a minority stake in the venture, which has the working name Pan-African Airline Group, Kilavuka said. The carriers are also seeking to recruit a third member from West Africa, most likely in Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast or Senegal, he said.

“There has been cooperation in the past but only short-term steps like interlining,” the CEO said at the CAPA Airline Leader Summit in northwest England. “What we are talking about now is very different. African aviation is so fragmented with 200 or 300 airlines, but only a handful are viable and even they are not very strong.”

The push to create an enlarged airline out of sub-Saharan Africa’s second- and third-biggest carriers — they trail Ethiopian Airlines Group — began last year with a government-level accord followed by an agreement on a strategic framework for the company. Kilavuka said the focus is on securing backing from a financial institution rather than an industry partner like a Gulf carrier, as that might compromise plans to split long-haul flights between their respective hubs.

Different Hubs 

According to one scenario, SAA’s Johannesburg base would be a focus for southern-hemisphere operations, such as flights to Sydney, while operations to Asia would go through Nairobi. The hubs would be able to maintain some competing flights, and cities such as London would get services from both.

A spokeswoman for SAA didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. 

“Following discussions between the two governments, there have been exploratory talks between the airlines,” South African Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan said by text. “There is certainly scope for a well considered pan-African airline group.”

Kilavuka said that Kenya Airways needs to complete a restructuring before the new venture can proceed, though a round of cost cuts should be done by June. The government, as the biggest shareholder, is supporting the process but requires the carrier to reduce its network, fleet size and workforce, Treasury Secretary Ukur Yatani said in his budget speech Thursday.

As for taking a share in the combined airline group, it’s “a work in progress,” Joseph Njoroge, principal secretary of state for the Department for Transport, said by phone.

Close Collaboration

Kenya Airways and SAA are meanwhile collaborating more closely than ever before, Kilavuka said, implementing code-share agreements and mutual lounge access and examining the case for a cost and revenue sharing joint venture on the Nairobi-Johannesburg route.

Other areas of cooperation could include joint training and maintenance, while surplus Boeing Co. 787 wide-body jets from the Kenya fleet may be operated by SAA after the South African firm’s aircraft roster was reduced after a lengthy spell in bankruptcy protection. The government, having been forced into repeated bailouts of the flagship carrier, sold a majority stake to a local jet-leasing company and private-equity firm last year. 

It’s also possible that the carriers will take steps to consolidate their alliance membership, with Kenya Airways quitting the Skyteam group or SAA exiting rival Star, Kilavuka said. The Dutch arm of Air France-KLM could also exit its roughly 7% holding in the Kenyan company, he said. 

Source: Bloomberg

Consolidation is the key to driving forward aviation in Africa, according to the chief executive of Kenya Airways.  

“The future of African aviation relies on consolidation to reduce unit costs and connect the continent more,” Kenya Airways Group MD & CEO Allan Kilavuka said at the CAPA Airline Leader Summit in the UK on April 7, 2022.  

“That’s what we’re working on,” he continued in a panel discussion that was streamed online. “We’ve started discussions with some of the major airlines in Africa, especially South African Airways. We want to see how to use assets from both airlines and increase connectivity.” 

Kenya Airways and South African Airways signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) with the intention of consolidating resources and establishing a Pan-African airline group back in September 2021.   

Joining forces would help bring unit costs down and make African airlines more viable, Kilavuka said, highlighting there were hundreds of small airlines across the continent, many of which were not profitable.  

He said aviation was crucial to the African continent given poor road and rail links. Kenya Airways also has the benefit of a sizeable population in the region, Kilavuka said  

“We need air travel. African carriers should grow, they have to grow,” he said, while also noting a lack of healthy finances is a challenge for the region’s airlines.   

Kilavuka also noted that Kenya Airways was loss-making before the pandemic, and the COVID-19 crisis only made the situation worse. He said the airline was confident it now had the right people in place for a recovery but was still looking for the right business model.   

Talking about current demand and recovery from the pandemic, Kilavuka said he expected demand across Africa to recover by the end of 2023. At Kenya Airways, although Omicron hit bookings in the first quarter of 2022, summer bookings are “very strong”, he said.  

Source: Aerotime Hub

Kenya Airways slashed full-year operating losses to KSh6.8 billion ($59 million) during 2021, a reduction of 75%.

It generated just over KSh70 billion in revenues over the 12 months to 31 December.

But passenger numbers of 2.2 million were still 57% down on the pre-crisis figure in 2019, and capacity remained nearly two-thirds lower.

Despite the “muted operations”, the carrier says it achieved an improved performance owing to the easing of travel restrictions in some of its more important markets.

Chief executive Allan Kilavuka insists the airline’s management team is “committed to strengthening our business and achieving profitability” by focusing on sustainable operations “anchored around resilience, innovation, and diversification”.

“We are making investments in innovation, technology and other efficiencies that will give our employees the support they need to take care of our customers,” Kilavuka adds.

Kenya Airways chair Michael Joseph acknowledges that last year was “a challenging one” for the industry, with restrictions being lifted and re-imposed as it progressed. The emergence of the ‘Omicron’ variant of Covid-19, he says, “disrupted” the recovery.

“Restructuring and transformation initiatives made during [2020] contributed immensely to the recovery during the second half of [2021],” he adds.

Although direct operating costs for the airline rose by a third last year, as a result of increased operations and higher fuel prices, Kenya Airways says its total operating costs fell by 3.6%.

Source: Flight Global

Yvonne Manzi Makolo, CEO of RwandAir, says that the company, now 49% owned by Qatar Airways, is looking beyond the pandemic to exploiting Africa’s huge aviation potential.

How has the Covid-19 pandemic affected your expansion plans and your medium- to long-term strategy?

We had a lot of momentum in the lead-up to the pandemic. We were expanding and had 29 routes running and more planned, both within and beyond Africa, but when Rwanda went into lockdown, we had to shelve most of these plans.

Rwanda closed off its airspace to commercial flights between March and August 2020, so we had to ground our fleet and re-evaluate our business model. The government of Rwanda has taken the pandemic very seriously, but has been very supportive of affected businesses, including those in aviation. Our staff were considered front-line workers, so we were able to get everyone vaccinated quickly.

We were able to operate cargo-only flights to support the export sector, as well as bringing in medical supplies like PPE. We converted our cabins to allow us to transport high-value exports like avocados, chillis, French beans, and flowers to lucrative markets in Europe and the Gulf.

We also carried out several repatriation flights, mainly to and from Europe, North America, and China, not just for Rwandans but also for citizens of other Central African counties.

By the time we resumed commercial flights in August 2020 we had shrunk our network to remove less profitable routes, including to Senegal, Juba, and Tel Aviv, which have still not been restarted.

Unfortunately, we were also forced to lay off some staff, though we have started rehiring them now. We had to cut back on in-flight services to focus more on safety and security procedures, which was obviously our priority.

We were on the road to recovery when the Omicron variant was recognised in December 2021, which was peak travel season. That knocked us back again as we had to stop all our Southern African routes, as well as major long-haul flights, to London and Dubai for example.

Now that the Omicron outbreak is being managed things are once again picking up and we are seeing increased passenger numbers. We hope to see consistent improvements between now and the 2022 summer season.

Covid has created challenges, but also opportunities, with SAA’s privatisation and Kenya Airways restructuring its network. How is RwandAir planning to fill new gaps in the market?

We had to pull out of some of our own routes, which other airlines are now eyeing, while we are looking at moving into new routes that have become available and which fit with our location and model.

Africa was already underserved and less connected than it should be, so there are lots of opportunities for airlines to gain market share at the moment. Even during the pandemic, we opened a few new routes.

These included Bangui (CAR), and Goma and Lubumbashi (DRC), which have been doing extremely well since we opened them in 2021. So, we are still working towards our objective of connecting Africans with each other and with the world.

In 2020 it was announced that Qatar Airways was purchasing a 49% stake in RwandAir. What is the state of negotiations, and how will they help RwandAir establish itself as a global airline?

Commercial initiatives, such as codeshares, between RwandAir and Qatar Airways were agreed upon in September 2021 and have been operation since December 2021. These have linked Kigali’s air transport hub with that of Doha, which allows us to expand our network significantly.

We can now reach most of Eurasia, while Qatar can reach most of Africa. Travellers can earn and exchange air miles between loyalty schemes, while we have access to Qatar Airways’ training facilities for pilots and cabin crew.

Qatar Airways has also purchased a 60% stake in Rwanda’s Bugesera International Airport. How does this arrangement benefit both Qatar and Rwanda?

The joint venture is still being worked out but is probably a few months away from being finalised. This will give Rwanda a large, modern airport, which is central to our plans to make Rwanda a transport hub, as well as Qatar’s plans to service the African continent. This will allow Rwand­Air to expand and allow the economy to benefit from ripple effects such as tourism and job creation.

It’s a massive project, around 25km outside Kigali, that is set to grow into an “airport city”, with housing, hotels, and entertainment centres, which presents a world of opportunity to local businesses. The first phase is set to be completed in 2024-25, which will give the airport a capacity of 7m passengers.

The second phase will expand on that, but details are yet to be finalised. The whole project is a good example of the government’s preferred private-public partnership (PPP) model, and there will be opportunities for further PPPs in everything from construction to service provision as the project advances.

How is RwandAir embracing innovation to attract customers and establish itself in the international market?

We are always looking for ways to make travel easier, add value and differentiate ourselves from the competition. We have invested in digitising and automating a lot of things, such as online sales and online check-ins, which has actually been helped by the pandemic and the emphasis that was put on getting things done remotely.

Qatar Airways has always been on the front line of innovation, and Rwanda is a very IT-focused country, so the deal between the two will let us complement each other’s innovative spirit perfectly.

How important is the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) to Rwand­Air, and what is your role in the promotion of African trade?

The finalisation of AfCFTA will be a game-changer as it will force change across the continental economy, including in aviation. It will become impractical to operate a free trade area without broad “open skies” agreements, inclusive visa policies, and other provisions that will make it easier for people to use our services.

At the moment many barriers still exist across Africa, including complicated visa procedures, inconsistent infrastructure, a lack of ground handling facilities, prohibitively high airport taxes, and unmaintained or unlit runways, all of which have to be addressed before Africa can develop a sustainable and affordable aviation industry.

For AfCFTA’s benefits to be felt in full, governments need to look at the continent holistically and address some of these bottlenecks so that aviation isn’t a limiting factor.

As Rwanda becomes a regional centre for sport, tourism, and the MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) segment, while promoting travel-friendly policies at home and abroad, AfCFTA presents Rwandans, RwandAir, and our partnership with Qatar with the opportunity to play a crucial role in Africa’s future.

Source: African Business

The long serving CEO of Africa’s largest airline Ethiopia Airlines has stepped down, citing ill health. Starting at the firm in 1985, he become CEO in 2011. He leaves behind a strong legacy, the envy of other African airlines who struggle to match Ethiopian’s operational efficiency.

Less than 24 hours after the announcement of the resignation of Tewolde GebreMariam, the CEO of Asky Airlines in Togo, Mesfin Tasew, has been appointed to take over as head of Ethiopian Airlines.

His appointment on 24 March, follows the resignation of Tewolde GebreMariam, who took early retirement on March 23 for health reasons.

Tasew will be responsible for the continent’s leading airline, with 130 aircraft covering 120 destinations worldwide.

Tewolde GebreMariam is a towering figure of African aviation, dragging Ethiopian Airlines through a profound modernisation process, and running the state-backed company profitably, in comparison to many continental peers.

“I pay tribute to the work of a man who has led Africa’s largest airline for over 11 years”, says Abdérahmane Berte, head of the African Airlines Association (AFRAA).

“Under his leadership Ethiopian Airlines became the largest African airline. A position maintained for many years”, he says. “For the sake of history I also note the important role of Ethiopian Airlines as one of the founding companies of AFRAA.”

Ethiopian Airlines tripled its fleet under Tewolde GebreMariam’s watch, from around 40 when he took over as CEO in 2011, to 120 today.

Turnover also grew from $1.3bn in 2011 to $3.9bn in 2019-2020. And Ethiopian’s Addis Ababa hub now flies to 120 destinations, compared to 80 in 2010.

While the Covid-19 pandemic has had a huge impact, kicking a billion-dollar hole in the budget, Ethiopian Airlines has managed to be operationally flexible, refitting several passenger planes into cargo carriers, the fruit of a long-started diversification exercise.

Ethiopian Airlines was the continent’s fifth largest carrier, after South African Airways, Egyptair, Royal Air Maroc and Kenya Airways. But post pandemic, thanks to this agility — and the decline of other carriers — it finds itself Africa’s biggest as measured by turnover in our exclusive ranking of Africa’s Top 500 Companies.

“Ato Tewolde was a game changer in African aviation. He bumped Ethiopian Airlines into the new century with a solid and steady hand, expanding the airline in terms of scope and profits beyond what was thought possible in Africa”, says one African aviation expert who asks not to be named. “His agility was apparent in Ethiopian’s stunning quick turn once the pandemic decimated passenger traffic by quickly converting passenger aircraft to freighters, earning the awe and admiration of business leaders worldwide. Honestly his handling of ET during Covid was spectacular.”

“I have already retired due to ill-health & the resignation I submitted to the gov’t was accepted”, Tewolde told Ethiopia Check.

The news was broken by local news outlet the Addis Standard.

Source: The African Report

Kenya Airways will now fly daily to India after the Asian country lifted the restrictions that had limited the national carrier to three flights a week, coming as a major boost to the airline that is struggling financially.

KQ, as the carrier is known by its international code, has been operating flights to India under a special arrangement normally referred to as ‘air bubble’ in aviation and which also limited the number of passengers to 400 a week.

The carrier, which resumed flights to India in September last year after it had stopped flying to the Asian country on April 2021, will also be making ten weekly flights to India starting April, coming as a major relief to passengers seeking to travel to the country.

“We are excited and ready for take-off to Mumbai with daily flights from March 28, 2022, and ten weekly flights from April, 17,” said KQ in a notice to its customers.

India has now opened its airspace to the national carrier as cases of Covid-19 in the country continue to decline.

The additional frequencies to Mumbai come just days after KQ cut frequencies to some of its destinations and stopped the launch of new routes citing declining demand for passengers.

A large number of patients from Kenya travel to India every year for specialised medical treatment, especially cancer care, helping to drive medical tourism in the densely populated country that boasts relatively more affordable healthcare.

Kenya Airways has postponed the launch of flights to Italy even as it suspended its operations to Cameroon due to low demand for passengers.

The national carrier was to start flying to Rome and Milan in June but it says the plans have been put on hold due to lower demand than it had earlier projected.

According to the initial schedule, KQ was to operate two weekly flights on Wednesday and Sunday using a large capacity aircraft Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

KQ re-introduced flights to Rome in 2019 after a seven-year hiatus, banking on increased traffic between the two continents and a new link in Geneva to boost its earnings.

Source: The East African

The South African government has concluded and signed a sales and purchase agreement for the sale of 51% of South African Airways with its preferred strategic equity partner, the Takatso Consortium, according to an announcement by the Ministry in the Presidency following a Cabinet meeting on February 23.

“The next step involves the approval of this transaction by various regulatory bodies,” it said in a statement.

The Department of Public Enterprises (DPE), SAA’s shareholder representative, had been locked in negotiations with Takatso for months, but aims to finalise the partial sale of the loss-making national carrier in early 2022, according to National Treasury’s 2022 Budget Review, also tabled on February 23. The terms of the sales agreement were not disclosed, but Takatso is to inject ZAR3 billion (USD196 million) in operational cash, while the government funds are to be used to settle SAA’s historical debts.

Takatso is a joint venture between asset fund manager Harith General Partners, the majority shareholder in the SAA transaction, and ACMI specialist Global Aviation Operations (GE, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo). “The Takatso deal is progressing well,” the DPE spokesman confirmed to ch-aviation.

Meanwhile, the government will pump another ZAR1.8 billion rands (USD119.3 million) into SAA during 2022/2023 despite the carrier continuing to rack up losses since resuming operations on September 1 last year.

By December 31, 2021, it had operated a total of 1,023 domestic and regional flights. Within those four months, it had also incurred a ZAR2.7 billion (USD179 million) loss against a budgeted deficit of ZAR2.3 billion (USD152 million), according to a National Treasury briefing to Parliamentary on February 15.

The latest financial support represents the balance of ZAR16.4 billion (USD1 billion) set aside for SAA in the 2020 Budget Review to settle state‐guaranteed debt and interest costs.

“To date, Government has paid ZAR14.6 billion (USD967.5 million) of this amount, with the remaining ZAR1.8 billion to be paid in 2022/23,” according to the government’s 2022 Budget Review tabled on February 23.

An additional ZAR10.5 billion (USD695.8 million) was allocated to SAA in 2020/2021 for the implementation of its business rescue plan. Of this, ZAR2.7 billion (USD179 million) was diverted to its subsidiaries in terms of a special appropriation bill in 2021.

Further state support of ZAR3.5 billion (USD232 million) is required over the next three years to implement the business rescue plan – as outlined in an interim business plan in June 2021 – but still needs to be approved. “Government will honour its commitment to implement the SAA business rescue plan,” a DPE spokesman told ch-aviation.

SAA intends to introduce long‐haul routes in the second half of 2022. The flag carrier resumed limited commercial operations in September 2021 in line with plans for a conservative re-entry into domestic and regional markets following a protracted business rescue process started on December 5, 2019, following years of continuous losses.

While in business rescue, SAA defaulted on ZAR890 million (USD.58.5 million) of revenue owed to former franchise partner Airlink (South Africa). It still owes Comair (South Africa) ZAR750 million (USD49.5 million) as part of a SA Competitions Tribunal settlement.

Harith General Partners – the majority shareholder in the Takatso Consortium which has been leading the negotiations with the government – is 30% owned by South Africa’s state-owned Public Investment Corporation (PIC). It manages the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF), which continues to be “well funded and financially sound”, according to the 2022 Budget Review. “At the end of March 2021, the GEPF had a net cash flow position of ZAR34 billion (USD2.2 billion),” the document states.

Delivering his 2022 Budget Speech in Parliament on February 23, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana did not mention any allocation to SAA but warned of “tough love” for state-owned companies going forward. He said the future of state-owned companies was under review by a Presidential State-Owned Enterprises Council. “Their future will be informed by the value they create and whether they can be run as sustainable entities without bailouts from the Fiscus.”

“Some state-owned companies will be retained, while others will be rationalised or consolidated. To reduce their continuing demands on South Africa’s public resources, the National Treasury will outline the criteria for government funding of state‐owned companies during the upcoming financial year,” he said.

Source: Ch-Aviation