SAA lashes out over newspaper report on flight cuts

SOUTH African Airways spokesman Tlali Tlali has lambasted a Media24 publication for being “unprofessional” and lacking “decency and courtesy” following a report yesterday about the cash-strapped state entity downsizing its fleet and flight frequency.

Tlali was referring to an article in the Rapport newspaper, titled “SAL skrap vlugte en 10 vliegtuie” (SAA scraps flights and 10 airplanes).

It said that SAA would reduce the number of flights between Johannesburg and Cape Town by more than a third, and stop flights to Port Elizabeth and East London completely, in an attempt to become more profitable.

Additionally, regular flights to central Africa would be cut and daily flights to London would be reduced from two to one.

To reduce costs further, SAA would reduce its fleet of 50 aircraft by 10 as part of its turnaround strategy, the newspaper said in the report.

While Tlali neither confirmed nor denied the claims in the article yesterday, he said the manner in which the report was handled lacked professional courtesy and Media24 would have to deal with the consequences.

“Neither Media24 nor Rapport had the courtesy to consult with us [SAA] about that story,” he said.

“If there are any changes which affect our clients, we will communicate those changes to the public.

“We didn’t put that information in the public domain.

“This information was acquired through their own sources, but they didn’t have the courtesy to confirm any of the information with us. They [Media24] have put it out to the public and they will have to deal with the consequences thereof.”

Asked whether the information was accurate, he said: “I will not be discussing that now. You will have to ask Media24 that question. The manner in which the story was handled by the publication lacked professionalism, decency and courtesy as they published the article without any consultation with us.”

SAA’s financial woes have made headlines for some time.

It was recently reported that a leaked document revealed Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba’s plan to sell 40% of government shares in Telkom – valued at R14-billion – for another R10-billion SAA bailout.

Media24 failed to respond to questions yesterday.