SAA returns to the skies on Thursday

South African Airways (SAA) flights have returned to the skies after being grounded since last year, 2020.

Flight operations between Johannesburg and  Cape Town resumed on Thursday morning.

Other destinations of the airline include Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lusaka in Zambia, Maputo in Mozambique and Accra in Ghana.

The national carrier has been grounded for more than a year due to being placed under voluntary business rescue.

SAA also had to retrench thousands of workers because of financial challenges, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

SAA came out of business rescue in April this year.

In June, the South African government announced it had sold 51% stake of the airline to Takatso Consortium, a deal that is yet to be finalised.

Takatso has not been included in the relaunching plans of the airline.

Business Rescue Practitioners took control of SAA in December 2019 after almost a decade of financial losses.

Last year, National treasury allocated over R10 billion to re -start the airline.

Regaining reputation

Earlier this month, Aviation analyst Joachim Vermooten warned that it will take a long time for SAA to regain its reputation.

Vermooten says the airline needs to work hard to restore customer confidence.

“Any newly restored airline will take a while before it gains enough support. So, it’s going to be a tough one, but there are people that would like to fly with SAA, especially in the region. It will take time before customer confidence can be regained,” says Vermooten.

Interim SAA Chief Executive Thomas Kgokolo on the airliner resuming operations in September 2021: