While South African Airways (SAA) has been in the financial doldrums for many years, Ethiopian Airlines has been prospering. The airline has been doing so well that it has ordered 10 Airbus A350-900S and is expanding the airport at Addis Ababa as it looks to grow passenger numbers to 22-million a year. Privatising our national airline has been mooted, but government has demurred for a number of years, perhaps correctly. But with our wobbly fiscal position and bleak economic environment, we cannot afford to funnel more funds into SAA’s bottomless pit. Ethiopian Airlines recorded an 18% increase in passenger numbers in 2016 and made a handsome profit of $273m in the 2015-16 financial year. Surely, these guys know a thing or two? Perhaps SAA should ask Ethiopian Airlines to manage it, or at least nurse it back to health? Thembelani TukwayoSoweto
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