Airlink sues SAA again to recover ‘stolen’ monies

Airlink has accused SA Airways (SAA) of helping itself to its money and is taking the state-owned carrier to court in a fresh action to recover almost R1 billion in revenue.

It was unsuccessful in its first round of litigation. Before sliding into business rescue, the flag carrier spent cash that was allegedly Airlink’s.

In a franchise agreement, SAA was supposed to be a temporary custodian of Airlink’s money, as it used SAA’s booking system. Apart from its attempt to recover its money, Airlink told The Citizen it would not rule out pursuing Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan and the department’s director-general Kgathatso Tlhakudi, as shadow directors, in a derivative action, as well as other board members personally to recover the funds.

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An angry Airlink chief executive Rodger Foster said: “We won’t rule out any recourse available to us.

“Airlink stakeholders, especially our staff and their families, suffered terribly as a consequence. And I’m sure we’re not alone. “We had a long-standing relationship that began in 1992 and intensified in 1997 when we beCame a fully fledged franchisee.

“We committed to the relationship and we nurtured it for a lifetime,” Foster said. “The liberation of our money by SAA and consuming it was unjust and immoral. “We realise that we’re not alone among creditors, with claims amounting to about R32 billion, but there is a difference.

“Other creditors were suppliers and service providers, whereas SAA as the franchiser always performed services on Airlink’s behalf, including collecting and safely holding our money until liability for flight fulfilment had been satisfied.

“We cannot reconcile with how unscrupulously SAA, as a state-owned enterprise, helped itself to Airlink’s property.”

In SAA’s business rescue plan, Airlink was named as a concurrent creditor, so would receive no preferential treatment. SAA contends that post business rescue, it owes Airlink nothing. It spent Airlink’s money before going into business rescue.

In its application, Airlink wants to be classified as a post commencement creditor, as SAA failed to transfer money collected for tickets flown. Airlink considers non-payment a post commencement default.

According to the court docket, Airlink is claiming R473 mil-lion for flown ticket revenue by December 2019, comprising R418 million for flights operated in November 2019 and R54 million for flights flown during the first few days of December.

It claims SAA also owes Airlink R424 million in unflown ticket revenue. A previous attempt to recover more than R500 million in ticket sales from SAA was dismissed on appeal after the High Court in Johannesburg dismissed an initial application. Foster believes there is a good chance of success in this latest round of litigation. “

It is our fiduciary duty to explore all avenues to recover our property.” Should Airlink be successful, it may impact other creditors’ claims against SAA and add a potential hurdle to the Takatso Consortium’s bid for a controlling stake in SAA.

A spokesperson for the consortium declined to say whether there would be an impact.

“The Takatso Consortium is not privy to, and thus unable to comment on, any legal action regarding SAA. We refer any such queries to SAA and the department of public enterprises.” SAA said: “This matter was addressed during the business rescue process as provided for in the business rescue plan; and that both SAA and the business rescue practitioner and the receiver are defending the case.”

– news@citizen.co.za