South African Airways (SAA) Business Rescue Practitioners have confirmed receiving a letter from the Public Enterprises Department and Treasury making a commitment to provide the R10.5-billion funding needed to restructure the airline.
The Business Rescue Practitioners say they have exhausted funds to keep the airline afloat.
They also say time-lines for the funding will be determined in the following weeks after which they will engage with government on securing the money.
Administrators at the struggling airline have called a creditors’ meeting which is under way after the government missed a deadline to make funding available for the airline’s restructuring plan.
The administrators took control of state-owned SAA in December last year after almost a decade of financial losses.
They then published a rescue plan in June following repeated delays and wrangling over SAA’s future.
Of the more than R10-billion needed, around R2.8-billion is required for initial working capital.
In the video below, unions to picket outside SAA headquarters on Friday:
The meeting will discuss the funding issue and the proposed future of the airline.
Meanwhile, The Department of Public Enterprise has called for patience from all South African Airways (SAA) workers, unions and creditors over funding.
The department says it is aware of a planned picket by National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa (Numsa) and South African Cabin Crew Association (Sacca) outside SAA headquarters on Friday in Kempton Park on Gauteng’s East Rand.
In the video below, Numsa says it will take legal action to prevent the liquidation of SAA:
