State airline SAA is showing more signs of a failing carrier. The state-owned carrier failed to settle pilot salary increases agreed to a year ago on payday and several other allegations that raised questions about the airline’s liquidity that have surfaced since its disclaimed annual report fiasco, board departures and CEO John Lamola’s exit.
SAA responded with a blanket no comment response to several questions, declining to address allegations that it is considering returning five Airbus A320 aircraft to lessors and may be cutting routes, including Dar es Salaam and Gaborone, from its network.
The unanswered questions have intensified concerns around the airline’s medium- to long-term sustainability, particularly as insiders increasingly describe a company under severe operational and financial strain.
Was SAA’s success story a dream?
SAA also refused to answer questions about possible re-trenchments and reports that dozens of cabin crew contracts were not renewed last month.
In an internal letter last week, pilot union Saapa said SAA management has attributed non- payment of increases to cash-flow constraints and “has unilaterally decided to defer the payment to the normal payroll run on 26 May”.
Previously, a source told The Citizen that Lamola confided in March that SAA was facing liquidity challenges. Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) chief executive Wayne Duvenage said the allegations raised serious concerns about whether SAA was genuinely operating sustainably after emerging from business rescue.
“If it doesn’t get a bailout, it doesn’t have cash in the bank, it’s not going to be able to pay anybody salaries,” Duvenage said.
Cutting costs
Possible routes with withdrawals and rumours surrounding leased aircraft suggested the airline was already under pressure to cut costs rapidly. Despite Transport Minister Barbara Creecy previously denying that National Treasury funded an SAA bailout at all, the airline’s 2025 annual report showed a R1 billion share capital sale to the department of transport.
Questions about another bailout this month or next were not answered by the department.
To remain a going concern, SAA revalued its property portfolio in the 2023 annual report and last year sold off key assets like its Heathrow slot to stay afloat.
“These are all the signs, all the hallmarks of an airline that’s failing, or a business that’s failing,” Duvenage said.
A dispute with pilots
A senior SAA flight deck member said the pilots are at a loss on how to approach the dispute with the airline. “If we strike, we break the air line. If we do nothing, we give in to SAA’s mismanagement. It’s embarrassing that even at private social engagements, working for SAA has become a talking point again.
And not about its phoenix-like rise, but about the airline’s imminent extinction.” SAA has more than R1 billion in unrepatriated funds in Zimbabwe alone, which the carrier has been unable to bank. Spokesperson Mphilo Dlamini declined to say how the airline planned to repatriate smaller amounts in countries like Angola and Nigeria, with the funds blocked by Harare.
Duvenage said there must be a point at which it’s time to throw in the towel.
“Aviation is just not a government competency.” A former SAA executive told The Citizen there seems to be an irrational insistence that the show must go on, irrespective of the cost to taxpayers. That bill presently stands at around R133 billion over two decades. SAA needed to urgently cut costs and secure private sector involvement, Duvenage said, warning government could no longer afford endless bailouts for struggling state-owned entities.
He said the airline’s ongoing instability reflected governance and accountability failures across the state. – news@citizen.co.za
