AVIATION
Sell SA Express and redeploy skilled staff, analyst suggests
The state-owned regional airline South African Express (SAX) is unlikely to recover from being grounded by the Civil Aviation Authority and should be sold, says transport economist and aviation specialist Joachim Vermooten. The authority grounded the airline in May over noncompliance with safety regulations. Vermooten said on Monday that it would be extremely difficult for the airline to recover revenue and market share when it resumed flying. "The best thing would be to redeploy [SAX’s] skilled personnel to SAA, where there is a shortage, and then to sell it," he said. Enormous cost In the context of a R21.1bn shortfall at parent company SAA, he said the cost to get SAX back into the market would be enormous. "And that is not counting the cost of restructuring and paying off creditors." Vermooten said the state (as shareholder) would have to contemplate whether it would be better to shut it down and start afresh with a new, smaller operation, or whether to try to recover. SA’s air...
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