SAA rule-bending days may be over

One positive aspect of privatising South African Airways (SAA) is that the airline would have to start playing by accepted business rules.

The downside of the failed Takatso bid is that SAA may continue its questionable business practices.

With a safety net of taxpayer bailout money – it most recently declared a R800 million loss over nine months of operations – SAA could resort to uncompetitive behaviour like sub-economic air fares, to steal business away from its opposition.

That would not only be squandering taxpayer money, it could endanger jobs at other airlines who play by the rules.

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As we report today, there are already indications that SAA could get itself into hot water over its questionable acquisition of proprietary commercial information from privately owned airline Airlink.

This could give SAA a commercial advantage over Airlink, which has built up its business through difficult times, without government subsidies.

This data transfer could, prima facie, be a contravention of the Cybercrimes Act… not a good look for an airline that is trying to rebuild trust not only with its customers but also the broader aviation community.

This sort of behaviour is not something ordinary South Africans – who effectively own SAA – would approve of, either.