South African Airways 5-year corporate plan needs government approval

State-owned airline South African Airways (SAA) has submitted a 5-year corporate plan for approval by the government, involving obtaining an investment facility, looking for a potential strategic equity partner, and restructuring the group into three purpose-specific entities.  We got this update

from the airlines last year.

A period of mismanagement had led to SAA entering business rescue (similar to Chapter 11 in the USA) in December 2019 when the government refused to provide any more bailouts or guarantees. The airline could exit business rescue in April 2021 in a much leaner form, initially restarting only a few domestic routes and then gradually expanding its network again to now include some domestic and regional flights as well as direct long-haul flights between Johannesburg and Sao Paulo (Brazil) and Perth in Australia. The airline plans to focus on high-demand routes and enhancing connectivity to key destinations. For example, it hopes to potentially restart flights to the USA (Washington D.C.) via Accra in Ghana by mid-2026. It also sees opportunities to boost its cargo and charter capacity.

In the corporate plan, seen by Airinsight, SAA admits that it remains in a fragile financial position despite showing its first net profit in ten years (about $13.4 million) during the 2022/2023 financial year and showing a positive balance sheet of R4.7 billion. The audited 2023/2024 financial results are expected to be released in May 2025 and SAA is confident that it will show a much higher net profit. It is unclear when the 2024/2025 results will be finalized.