South African Airways Relaunch Leaves Netizens With Questions: “How Much Will It Cost?”

• South African Airways is set to relaunch itself on 26 October, much to the disappointment of South Africans
• The state-owned enterprise will also announce its direct flight to São Paulo, Brazil, from Johannesburg and Cape Town
• Netizens wanted to know how much the relaunch was going to cost and slammed the lack of transparency

With eight years at Daily Sun and Vutivi Business News, Tebogo Mokwena, a Briefly News journalist, provided coverage of current affairs, shedding light on critical issues like State-Owned Enterprise governance and news.

The 'new' South African Airways is expected to launch on Thursday, 26 October, but South Africans are not excited about it. The launch will also coincide with SAA's launch of direct flights to Sao Paulo, Brazil. Netizens disapproved of the launch and called it a colossal waste of money.

Read also

RiSA responds with shock to Durban suddenly withdrawing as SAMA29 hosts

SAA to be relaunched

The government is said to relaunch SAA in Cape Town. The event should also announce the SOE's direct flights to São Paulo. Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan called the relaunch a milestone. This is after considering that it was so troubled at some point that it had to go into business rescue. Consequently, the airline stopped flying for 16 months.

SAA will be flying to the South American country four times a week. According to BusinessTech, two flights will depart from Johannesburg and Cape Town. The first flight to Brazil will take off on 31 October from the Mother city, and the first Johannesburg-based flight will be on 6 November.

Mzansi demands to know the relaunch cost

Read also

SA celebrates as England referee Wayne Barnes announced to officiate Springbok vs New Zealand RWC final match

South Africans commenting on Facebook lambasted the government for trying to waste more money on the relaunch and wanted to know how much it would cost.

Shalen Heeralal said:

“How many times are they relaunching? Just start operating and let your results speak for themselves. We need more airlines in SA, both on domestic and international routes. Just get on with the business and forget about the fanfare.”

Lance Berelowitz asked:

“How many billions were needed to bail them out this time?”

Peter Lancashire remarked:

“It’s amazing how they don’t mention the cost of the relaunch and, of course, the factors taken into account on how they have cohen their destinations.”

Cornelius Robert observed:

“Open the taps. Bailout within 6 months.”

Lynd Tyrer wrote:

“And no mention of the new partners, which is odd, seeing that SAA still has a huge debt to pay off.”

SAA's interim board held its first meeting

Read also

The South African Post Office faces dire financial crisis: Can former CEO Mark Barnes save the day?

In a similar article, Briefly News reported that South African Airways interim board held its first meeting to evaluate assets and strategies for the SOE's good audit outcome.

The board met a few days after Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan appointed it. South Africans were surprised that the state-owned enterprise still exists, and some suggested it be shut down.

Source: Briefly News