Inside Vuyani Jarana’s plan to save SAA
After years of mismanagement, some are now calling for SAA to be put into business rescue. But can the airline be saved and become profitable?
Vuyani Jarana, the new CEO of SAA, left a nice job in telecoms to take on the hitherto impossible job of turning the airline around. What are his plans? SAA has had nine CEOs in 10 years. What makes you think you might be able to survive what is known as the biggest "hospital pass" in corporate SA? I might not have aviation experience, but I have a strong commercial background, so before taking the job I looked broadly at the airline: if the annual reports had shown that there was no market, and that load factors and revenue were a problem, then I would not have taken the job. It was clear the challenge is to fix the profit and loss statement. Therefore, I felt that the airline could be turned around with the right commercial experience and skills. The state justifies owning SAA by saying it fulfils two mandates: to operate as a sustainable airline and fulfil a developmental role. Can SAA afford to fulfil a development role? No — the airline cannot have a dual mandate at this stage....
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