SAA hits turbulence a few days after relaunch

A few days prior to its relaunch, SA Airways (SAA) board chair John Lamola said in a statement the airline’s relaunch filled him with pride and “an awful sense of responsibility”.

The same statement also noted that the board understood the eyes of South Africa will be focused on its performance.

Perfectly timed to Heritage Day weekend last week, the SAA took to the skies for the first time on 23 September since its 2019 business rescue jaunt.

An airline spokesperson claimed the first flight boasted a 90% load factor and subsequent early flights levelled out at 75% it said.

However, an irate passenger sent The Citizen a copy of an SAA flight cancellation notice for her 27 September Johannesburg–Cape Town flight, four days after the initial fanfare.

In an initial WhatsApp response to a query on the culled flight, the SAA responded that “SAA has ‘constituently’ said we will respond to the market and that [sic] what we will continue to do.”

The airline later clarified after the initial story had been filed, saying “part of our promise to our customers is to act in a financially prudent manner, to offer transparency in our business decisions and advance notice of planned changes”.

“Following a month of sales, some proactive schedule adjustments were made to better match capacity to emerging demand. It was also to give adequate information to our customers to plan with certainty. Therefore:

• Kinshasa: selected flights were removed for sale during September 2021.
• Lusaka: schedule was adjusted to four flights per week during September and October with daily flights resuming from November 2021.
• Maputo: Restart will be delayed until December 2021.”

SAA also said in the same response: “These changes were actioned last week. Additionally, customers who were booked on these flights were re-accommodated onto partner airlines or alternate SAA service.

“Customers have also been given an option to receive a refund or convert ticket to a credit voucher for future use with SAA.”

Lamola’s statement just before the relaunch also noted the fact that South Africans will be closely watching the carrier.

“This is absolutely justified as the now solvent airline is back in business due to the support of the taxpayer,” he said in the statement. SAA emerged from business rescue with R10.5 billion in taxpayer funding.

“It is due to the wonderful trait of resilience that we South Africans are known of, that we have been able to reach this point of SAA rising from the ashes as a solvent company,” said Lamola.

Since 1994, a loose calculation shows that SA’s “resilient taxpayers” already bailed out SAA to the tune of close to R60 billion.

Lamola said SAA resumed services with a clear vision that involves the incorporation of a strategic equity partner.

However, the deal with the Takatso consortium is not finalised yet. In fact, last week the consortium’s Gidon Novick distanced the collective from SAA’s current state of play.

It acknowledged the relaunch but added a disclaimer in the opening statement which read that Takatso “can confirm that at this stage it is not involved in the management, funding or relaunch plans of the airline”.

This article has been updated with SAA’s response.