BELEAGURED stateowned entity, SA
Express, is awaiting
judgement on an application
to have it placed under
business rescue by logistics
and transport supplier,
Ziegler ZA. The matter went
to court on January 28 with
Ziegler seeking R11,3m from
the airline for alleged unpaid
services.
A Ziegler spokesperson
told TNW that judgement
had been reserved on the
matter with no indication yet
on when a decision would be
made.
Canvassed agents report
that their confidence in SAX
is at an all-time low. Stats
published on Acsa’s website
indicate that only 50,43%
of SAX flights departed on
time during December and
that only 67,54% departed
on time year-to-date. Agents
say there are regular
cancellations of flights,
which is highly inconvenient
for travellers.
Supervisor at Sure Etnique
Travel, Shannon Botha, says
corporates have asked them
not to book SAX flights.
“There have been so many
delays, which has resulted
in our clients missing
appointments. They just
can’t take the chance.”
Spokesperson for SAX,
Mpho Majatladi, says the
airline is constantly working
toward improved on-time
performance and that stats
from the airline’s operational
department had recently
recorded 83,25% OTP.
SAA, pay up!
“SAX continues to
operate despite a myriad
of challenges including
non-payment from SAA;
irregularly contracted
suppliers who continued
to undermine the airline’s
governance structures
through self-serving,
unpatriotic motives such
as business rescue
applications; and imbalanced
media reports that damage
the reputation that the
airline is tirelessly trying to
rebuild,” said Mpho.
“The current SAX board
and interim management
were appointed to fix the
devastating aftermath that
corruption had on the once
thriving regional airline. SAX
is a strategic national asset
whose job it is to stimulate
much-needed local and
regional economies.”
The airline released
a statement this week,
following the news that SAA
had received the promised
funds for its business
rescue process. “Over the
last two months SAX has
been battling to retrieve
monies owed by SAA. Now
that SAA has received funds,
the regional airline trusts
that finally paying these
revenues will be prioritised,”
it said.
Agents weigh in
Marco Ciocchetti, ceo of
XL Travel Group, says SAX
has not been a preferred
supplier for a while now
and there is no incentive
agreement in place.
“We encourage the sale
of Airlink, which serves a
number of similar routes to
SAX,” explains Marco.
Ceo of Sure Travel, Vanya
Lessing, says SAX had been
in a difficult position for the
last year or two but that in
her opinion the decision to
book an airline or not should
be left to the customer.
“It is the role of the agent
to quote on all airline
options, while also informing
customers about current
business circumstances.
SAX remains an important
airline and is, in many
cases, the only option for
travellers to conveniently
reach certain destinations.”
Travel Counsellors is
proceeding with caution
when booking SAX, knowing
that the airline had preexisting issues prior to
SAA being placed under
business rescue, says gm
of Travel Counsellors SA,
Mladen Lukic. “We have
advised our passengers that
Travel Counsellors’ financial
protection is not in place for
bookings made on SAA or
SAX. The airline does service
some routes exclusively and
TCs are still booking these
routes when they are the
only viable option,” says
Mladen.
Travel Insurance
Consultants placed a
notification on its website in
December advising clients
and agents that it would no
longer provide Travel Supplier
Insolvency Cover for SAX
tickets.
