Government rejects SAA’s R10 billion funding request

Government has told South African Airways SAA’s business practitioners that it will not meet their request for a further R10 billion funding for the bankrupt airline.

This is as government fights the coronavirus pandemic.

Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan says government will not provide any extra funding for the business rescue.

He also says lending guarantees will also not be provided in respect of the business rescue process, as the pandemic has stretched the country’s resources.

SAA was placed under business rescue in December last year. The practitioners are yet to publish their rescue plan.

SAA financial woes

In January the airline received  R3.5 billion from the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA).

Some analysts raised concerns that taxpayers’ money that could have been utilised for valuable projects was now going to bailout SAA once again.

The business rescue process began in December 2019 with the local commercial banks providing the initial post commencement funding of R2 billion.

SAA has not made a profit since 2011 and has been relying on government bailouts to remain solvent.

It lost more than R10.4 billion in the past two financial years. Below are more facts about SAA:

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