Steps being taken to keep SAA flying high

FINANCE Minister Malusi Gigaba says steps are being taken to address the challenges faced by South African Airways (SAA).

The Minister said while the airline is faced with external market challenges, as is the case with other airlines, there were internal matters that SAA is looking at to bring stability in governance and to also ensure the airline’s liquidity is protected.

The Minister was accompanied by SAA’s top leadership, including Chairperson Dudu Myeni and newly appointed CEO Vuyani Jarana.

“There are far deeper challenges that we are facing at the airline that we need to address and some of those are just quick win decisions. We need to deal with revenue management, we need to ensure that our IT systems enable us to exercise far greater control and management of internal governance processes and business and commercial processes.

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“We also need to deal with a whole range of decisions which include the route networks, which includes the strategic use of our metal, which include ensuring that we rationalize the incentive schemes of our pilots. It remains a daunting challenge … that the incentive structure of our pilots in particular costs the company enormously when you compare with other airlines of similar size in other countries and we need to address the issues of the productivity of our pilots in comparison with the pilots of other airlines of comparative size,” he said.

This comes as the SAA Board and top executives work around the clock to implement the turn-around strategy that is aimed at bringing stability at the airline.

The minister said steps that are being taken to address the cash flow and the liquidity challenges that the airline faces.

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