SAA flights not back in June, after all
Business rescue practitioners (BRPs) for South African Airways (SAA) say the airline will not resume domestic flights between Johannesburg and Cape Town next month, adding that the statement suggesting otherwise was released in violation of the BRPs’ protocols.
On Tuesday a statement released by the airline’s communications department quoted the chief commercial operator, Philip Saunders, as saying the airline was “looking forward to welcoming and serving [its] customers once again” when SAA resumes domestic flights in mid-June.
The announcement came on the back of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Sunday night briefing in which he said domestic air travel for business purposes will be permitted when the country moves to alert Level 3 of lockdown in June.
“The flysaa statement was released in violation of the BRPs communications protocol which was put in place so that unvetted releases are not issued,” said BRPs Les Matuson and Siviwe Dongwana. “The position around the cessation of flights remains as is until SAA has a better sense of what the Level 3 lockdown means in terms of domestic air travel.”
Matuson and Dongwana said SAA would also need to consider the commercial viability and demand for these flights and that the availability of future funding was a “key variable in all of the above considerations”.
The BRPs were appointed in December to oversee and supervise the management, affairs and business of the company while working on a plan to restructure the airline.
More than five months since the process started, the BRPs have not published a final plan and have depleted the R5.5 billion provided in post-commencement funding, with the government refusing to extend any more money.
When the country instituted a nationwide lockdown as a response to the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic, the airline was forced to ground its flights.
“It is unfortunate that the unvetted press statement created an unfair expectation on our relevant stakeholders, including SAA’s customers and employees, who are on unpaid absence,” said Matuson and Dongwana.
“The BRPs focus is on the publication of the business rescue plan as outlined in the Scopa update on 15 May.”
Moneyweb
If the idea of the cigarette ban is to preserve the health of the nation, it’s not having much impact. Smokers are getting their fix, albeit it at three times the usual price. And they are trading down.
Marlboro smokers are finding the much cheaper RG brand quite acceptable. A carton of 200 RG goes for R650 on the black market, but that price is going up as stock becomes harder to source.
When the ban is eventually lifted – either by government fiat or on the instructions of a high court judge – the cigarette market will likely be forever changed.
Some of the 11 million smokers in South Africa may have ditched the habit, but others will have permanently switched brands, which should be good for lower-cost producers such as Gold Leaf, but not so good for higher-end producers such as BAT.