Ramaphosa: Govt 'not in agreement' with SAA route scrapping
President Cyril Ramaphosa says government doesn't support the decision to scrap almost all South African Airways' (SAA) domestic flights.
Speaking to media at the Waterkloof Air Force Base in Pretoria ahead of his departure to the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ramaphosa made it clear that he is not happy about the decision by the business rescue practitioners.
As part of the quest to improve the liquidity of SAA - its business rescue practitioners downsized the national carrier's flight network.
All domestic destinations, including Durban, East London and Port Elizabeth, will cease to operate at the end of February.
Ramaphosa says Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan is yet to meet with business rescue team.
"The minister is going to be making a statement about the recent announcement by the rescue practitioners. We are not in agreement with what the rescue practitioners have come up with," said Ramaphosa.
"We want to find out what the rationale is, we want to have a discussion with them."
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On Thursday, the airline announced that it will be scrapping all its domestic flights except the Johannesburg and Cape Town route. Debt-ridden and strapped for cash, SAA was placed under a state-approved rescue plan in December following a week-long strike that pushed it to the verge of collapse.
Ramaphosa added that government remains committed to ensuring that SAA remains profitable and sustainable.
"We would like SAA to remain a robust and successful airline. That is why we took the decision not to close SAA but to ensure that SAA is revamped, is resuscitated and it starts operating profitably."
The state-owned entity will also from February 29th close several regional and international services from Johannesburg to Abidjan via Accra, Entebbe, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Livingston, Luanda, Munich, Ndola, and Sao Paulo.
Domestic routes operated by Mango will not be affected.