Why SAA Is Worth Another Throw Of The Dice

Thebe Mabanga

As the deadline approaches for workers at South African Airways (SAA) to accept a severance package offer from Business Rescue Practitioners or take government’s route of investigating alternatives, it is worth considering whether the airline is worth keeping or be allowed to finally go under after 86 years in service.

It is hard to recall that the airline would occasionally deliver a profit under former CEO Khaya Nqgula, on one such occasion it delivered a R1 billion profit and even paid a small dividend to the shareholder.

That was until Ngqula flew to a holiday at the Kruger National Park in the middle of a strike.

According to this year’s Budget Review from National Treasury, between 2008 and 2019, SAA received R 22 billion in transfers. 

Over the same period, SAA suffered losses of R32 billion and before COVID-19 budget reprioritisation government had allocated R16.4 billion over the