By Daniel Itai.
Ekhurhuleni, South Africa. (News of The South) – South African Airways (SAA), which entered a form of bankruptcy protection in December 2017, will scale back some of its domestic and international routes from the end of February.
Routes to be closed include Johannesburg to Abidjan via Accra, Entebbe, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Luanda, Munich, Ndola and Sao Paulo. Domestic routes that will be closed include Durban, East London and Port Elizabeth.
Business Rescue Practitioners (BRPs) Les Matuson and Siviwe Dongwana said that in line with SAA’s commitment to take urgent action to conserve cash and create a viable platform for a successful future, key measures need to be implemented.
“The initiatives we are taking now will strengthen SAA’s business. We believe that this should provide reassurance to our loyal customers that SAA is moving in the right direction.
We are focused on our mandate to restore SAA’s commercial health and create an airline that South Africans will be proud of,” said the BRPs.
However, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) and the South African Cabin Crew Association (SACCA) slammed plans by the airline’s business rescue practitioners to cancel a number of routes to save costs.
“This will have a devastating impact on workers and their families because it effectively means that SAA in KZN, PE, Durban and East London will be closed down and workers will be retrenched.
No consultation whatsoever has taken place with labour as required by law and the business rescue practitioner has acted in flagrant disregard of the provisions of the Labour Relations Act,” said NUMSA and SACCA in a joint statement.
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