SAA lands R3.5bn to stay afloat until June
National carrier urges government to make a speedy decision on future financial support
SAA, which has secured the R3.5bn it required from banks to continue financing working-capital requirements until June, has urged the government to make a speedy decision on future financial support. The cash-strapped airline requested R21.7bn from the government in 2018 to recapitalise its balance sheet and provide working capital. This forms part of its three-year turnaround plan, which it said would see it break even by the 2020/2021 financial year. It suffered a R5.7bn loss in 2017/2018 and expects to lose another R5.2bn in the current financial year. While the government has approved the turnaround plan, only R5bn was provided for in the medium-term budget policy statement in October 2018. This was used to pay bridge-financing facilities. The carrier’s plea comes ahead of finance minister Tito Mboweni’s budget speech on Wednesday, when he is also expected to unveil a package for Eskom, whose financial crisis is seen as the biggest threat to the country’s economy. In comments th...
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