According to interim chief commercial officer Tebogo Tsimane, South African Airlines (SA, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo) has long-term intentions to relaunch A350 flights to resume most long-haul routes it flew before to the COVID-19 epidemic.
To begin, he stated on a recent Travel Talk that the state-owned airline intends to deploy its leased A330-300s to launch two long-haul routes—to Sao Paulo Guarulhos (Brazil) and Perth Airport (Australia)—by the conclusion of the current financial news weekly webcast year ending March 31, 2023.
In the second phase, the national carrier will begin A350 flights to Frankfurt International (Germany), London Heathrow (UK), Washington Dulles, and New York JFK (USA). It is also looking at routes that are in the works before it declared bankruptcy in December 2019 and shuts down all commercial flights in 2020, including another gateway to Australia—most likely Melbourne Tullamarine—but “this would take a while,” he said.
Between October 2019 and August 2020, SAA operated four A350-900s, including two ex-Air Mauritius planes and two ex-Hainan Airlines planes leased from Avolon.
“The routes that we’ve identified for this year are the routes that will be easier and quicker for us to start.” They do not require the type of investment that will take us long,” he explained.
Aside from restoring long-haul operations, the state-owned carrier intends to introduce schedules to more coastal destinations, such as Cape Town to Durban, Johannesburg to George, and Johannesburg to Port Elizabeth. Tsimane revealed.
After a ZAR10.5 billion rand (USD570.3 million) bailout, SAA began commercial operations on September 23, 2021, with a modest fleet of six aircraft, including three A319-100s leased from Castlelake, two A320-200s leased from Goshawk, and one A330-300 leased from Aero Capital Solutions.
The fleet has since increased to eleven aircraft, including one in-house A340-300 utilised as a spare, thanks to the arrival of three more A320-200s leased from GECAS. Before entering voluntary administration, the flag carrier operated 44 aircraft. Its business rescue plan was for a fleet of 26 aircraft by December 2021, with 10 “small narrowbodies” [probably regional planes], nine narrow-bodied planes, and seven wide-body planes.
The airline first restarted domestic service between Johannesburg O.R. Tambo and Cape Town, as well as five regional routes: Accra (Ghana), Harare International (Zimbabwe), Kinshasa N’Djili (DRC), Lusaka (Zambia), and Maputo (Malawi) (Mozambique). Since then, it has expanded its flights to Durban King Shaka, Blantyre, and Lilongwe (Malawi), Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe), Mauritius, and Windhoek International Airport (Namibia).
About ZAR1 billion (USD) in state bailout money will be provided to the airline to settle a portion of its outstanding liabilities related to the implementation of its business rescue plan. The proceeds will be utilised to pay off outstanding liabilities, notably those related to the payment of the final dividend to creditors and the repayment of legacy unpaid ticket income dating back to the pre-business rescue period in December 2019.
SAA’s Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, John Lamola, commented on the latest bailout, saying, “SAA’s operations have progressed positively since the airline emerged from business rescue, and as reported to Parliament earlier this month, SAA is no longer technically insolvent, a milestone which we achieved a year earlier than projected.”
Fikile Mhlontlo, Chief Financial Officer, added: “SAA has reached the position where we are able to meet its operating expenses. It should be noted that the announced distribution solely applies to historical debt. These monies are not intended to supplement the current company plan “.
The airline claimed that the ZAR1 billion allocation was part of a ZAR3.5 billion (USD190 million) ring-fenced into a receivership by its administrators. “The estimated total balance from National Treasury has been decreased to ZAR2.586 billion (USD140.4 million). The airline will continue to negotiate with the National Treasury for the remaining funds and will comply with any conditions that may accompany the flow of these funds “It was noted.
Takatso, the government’s preferred strategic equity partner for the semi-privatization of SAA, stated that the allocation fell short of clearing the historical debt, which the government has pledged to do as one of the conditions for finalising the deal, which has been negotiated for nearly two years since it was first announced in June 2021. “The partial fulfilment of this commitment was not expected by Takatso Aviation.” “As a result, we will have to examine the impact on the transaction’s progress,” it said.
Lamola indicated that SAA’s leased fleet would be doubled to 12 aircraft by April 2023 as part of a fleet and intercontinental route development plan that would be implemented regardless of delays or even an indefinite postponement of the privatization deal with Takatso.
He stated that the fleet would consist of ten A320-200s, one A330-300, and another wide-body (A350) for intercontinental operations by April 2023.
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