No plans to dispose of SAA assets

There are no plans to dispose of any of the assets of South African Airways (SAA), the national carrier said this week, Northglen News reports.

Media reports at the weekend claimed the airline, which falls within the ambit of the Department of Public Enterprises, was considering selling its assets as banks refused to loan it any more money.

“No decisions have been taken to dispose of any SAA entities or assets at this stage. Options were merely presented to the Board for consideration,” said SAA.

In a statement, the carrier said at a recently held board strategy session management presented the board with a strategy update reflecting on various achievements and challenges. The two-day session held from 11 to 12 September also presented a road map and options for the outlook of the business.

“Options were merely presented to the board for consideration,” said SAA.

The airline said green shoots emerged in its first quarter performance.

It is on track with its turnaround strategy with quarter one results showing that the company is ahead of the plan in its trading performance. SAA said it had always maintained that it “will take us until 2021 to break even”.

“This means that our costs will remain higher than our revenue until we reach the breakeven point. We continue to implement initiatives to drive costs down and improve revenue as part of the turnaround strategy,” it said.