SAA's latest business rescue plan has sparked further controversy, with rival private airlines saying it effectively offers a R1bn bailout to state-owned low-cost carrier Mango.According to the final business rescue plan by business rescue practitioners Les Matuson and Siviwe Dongwana, Mango required a recapitalisation of R1bn based on "pre-Covid-19 estimates".The document said Mango's "financial position and liquidity remains challenging". Mango CEO Nico Bezuidenhout says he is "not in a position to comment on SAA's business rescue plan", but Matuson and Dongwana say: "Mango is a subsidiary of SAA, so it is in the interest of the state to fund it, so that it can continue serving the SAA clients that are reaccommodated because of cancelled SAA flights."Although Mango is an SAA subsidiary, it operates as a separate airline. Hence, competitors say, it should go through its own business rescue process if it is in trouble. They say the lockdown has crippled all airlines an...
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