SAA’s business rescue practitioners (BRPs) – Les Matuson and Siviwe Dongwana – have said the national carrier will not resume domestic flights by mid-June. This follows an SAA press statement issued on Tuesday, May 26, saying it would resume its domestic schedule between Johannesburg and Cape Town with effect from mid-June.
“Our operational preparedness is underlined by the significant role the airline has played in global repatriations to and from South Africa and by our desire to serve the domestic market,” said chief commercial officer, Philip Saunders, in the SAA statement.
However, the BRPs say the statement was released in violation of the BRPs’ communications protocol, which was put in place so that unvetted releases were not issued. “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. The airline also needs to consider what the opening of the skies will mean from a commercial and load factor perspective,” said Louise Brugman, spokesperson for the BRPs.
SAA’s future funding also remained a key variable in all of the above considerations, she said. “It is unfortunate that the unvetted press statement created an unfair expectation on our relevant stakeholders – including SAA’s customers as well as employees,” said Louise.