Government has identified three equity partners for South African Airways (SAA) and will make a decision on which one to pick in the next month or so, says Public Enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan.<\/p>\n
In an interview with Bloomberg TV<\/a><\/strong>, Gordhan said that the interim SAA board is engaging with the candidates before the government makes its recommendation.<\/p>\n South Africa\u2019s search for a partner comes at a time when the aviation industry is mired in the biggest crisis in its history, having been laid low by the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n One of the partners which has previously mooted is Ethiopian Airlines which has been in active discussions with the South African government about a deal.<\/p>\n In October 2020, Ethiopian Airlines said that it was willing to provide \u201cplanes, pilots and maintenance services\u201d to ailing SAA as part of a joint venture. However, it said that it was hesitant about taking on SAA’s debt.<\/p>\n Last week Ethiopian Airlines chief executive Tewolde Gebremariam expressed frustration with the slow pace of discussions, indicating that talks with South Africa\u2019s government \u201chave been a challenge so far\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are still discussing, but I would say it has not made the expected progress,\u201d he told trade publication Flightglobal<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n The Department of Public Enterprises has said that South African Airways (SAA) could exit administration at the end of March on the back of fresh funding and a possible equity partner.<\/p>\n In a presentation to parliament on 3 February, the department said that the signing of the recent Appropriations Act will allow the remainder of a R10.5 billion bailout to flow to the company.<\/p>\n The Department said that a plan for SAA to resume operations had not yet been agreed.<\/p>\n SAA has been unprofitable for almost a decade, surviving on state bailouts and government debt guarantees, and was placed under administration a year ago.<\/p>\n The carrier has been lying dormant since March 2020, when the fleet was grounded due to travel bans to contain the coronavirus.<\/p>\n In October, Finance minister Tito Mboweni agreed to fund a revival plan that includes firing almost 80% of SAA\u2019s workforce. The revival plan was calculated by the administrators to cost about R10.5 billion.<\/p>\n
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