SAA must cut routes ‘bleeding’ it

THE rumours that embattled SAA is set to cut routes in sub-Saharan Africa just won’t go away.

Cutting routes where it is “bleeding deeply” is likely to put a dent in SAA’s status as a regional hub – amid intense competition from rival operators Ethiopian Airways and Kenyan Airways.

Ethiopian Airways has been increasing its footprint into southern Africa.

Earlier this week, the airline was awarded a licence by the Mozambican Civil Aviation Institute to operate domestic routes there.

“We are in the process of turning around the airline and the first thing that we need to do is cut routes where we are bleeding deeply,” said an SAA executive, who asked to remain anonymous.

The Central African Republic has now been added to the list of destinations in Africa earmarked for the chop by the airline.

It is understood that other routes include Brazzaville in the Congo, Libreville in Gabon, Kigali in Rwanda, and Lilongwe and Blantyre in Malawi.

Estimates put the monthly losses suffered by SAA from the unprofitable routes at about R350-million.

The proposed cancellation of the regional routes comes on the back of what appears to be an attempt to enforce cuts across the organisation, which is operating in the red and facing pressure from its creditors to repay loans.

Some domestic routes serviced by the airline might also face the chop.

SAA Pilots Association chairman Jimmy Conroy said the association had been informed in August that SAA’s fleet would be slashed by up to 20%.

But unprofitability is just half the challenge facing SAA, which operates to 76 destinations and has 126 routes.

The airline is also locked in a protracted struggle to repatriate R1-billion owed to it by Angola, Nigeria, Senegal and Zimbabwe from unremitted ticket sales.

The four countries have been hit by an acute shortage of foreign currency, resulting in lengthy delays in their ability to service foreign payments.

Angola, severely hit by low oil prices, saw its total debt in unremitted ticket sales rise to $477million (about R6-billion) this year, up from $271-million last year, according to the International Air Transport Association.

In July, Emirates cut its weekly flights to Luanda from five to three due to the payments backlog.

Asked this week about the ticketsales debts, SAA spokesman Tlali Tlali said the airline would not respond by ceasing operations in the four countries. — DDC