SAA says: "We're not interested in Air Malawi"

"FOR some time now there has been some misconceptions in the aviation industry that SAA once submitted a bid for a stake in Air Malawi. There were even reports that SAA was a leading contender to acquire equity in the Malawian national airline. SAA wishes to point out that we never submitted a bid for equity in Air Malawi." This according to SAA's executive manager: corporate communications, Rich Mkhondo. "Our involvement was only as far as acting as technical supporters to Crown Aviation's submission. After consultation with Crown Aviation, a Malawi-based consortium, SAA decided to back their bid technically as a non-equity strategic partner in the event that they were successful." He said that contrary to statements issued, at no stage did SAA actively participate in the bid apart from assisting Crown Aviation with its technical submission. (Miguel de Sousa)