The airline – who is openly racist in its employment policies (read our story about cadet pilots) – has now received an emergency loan to cover fuel costs, preventing the grounding of its local and international flights.
Finance minister Pravin Gordhan and public enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba signed a guarantee allowing the national carrier to secure R550m for fuel and “short term commitments”. The loan has to be repaid over the next three months.
The grounding of the airline would have left scores of local and overseas passengers stranded after the festive season holidays.
Gigaba’s spokesperson Mayihlome Tshwete told the Sunday Times there was “nothing unique” about the loan and that airlines all over the world had experienced financial challenges.
“This was in fact foreseen by SAA when it previously requested a R5bn guarantee. As management, we would not expose the airline to the possibility of being grounded at any time.”
SAA seems to be bleeding cash. Its net cash outflow was R396m in the year up to March 2012 with its total loss for the year after tax of R1.06bn on a turnover of R22.4bn.
