South African Airways’ chairman is uncertain whether budget carrier Mango will be revived, but believes that the country’s domestic market is strong and signals that SAA is more focused on regional and intercontinental services.
Mango, which is wholly-owned by SAA, stopped operations in July 2021 and was placed under business rescue.
Speaking during a parliamentary public accounts committee session on 22 October, SAA chair Derek Hanekom, said the business rescue practitioner “seems to be confident that there is a potential buyer”.
But whether Mango would return to the market was “not for us to say”, he added.
“It didn’t just go under business rescue for the sake of it,” he says. “It crumbled. And so it may have been providing affordable flights for a period, but it was unsustainable and it was running at a loss, a serious loss.”
Hanekom, who was explaining to the committee SAA’s need for funding to support its strategic plans, pointed out that simply providing affordable flights which were unable to cover their own expense would result in demands on public funds.
He says the domestic market has become “highly competitive” – with the development of carriers including Airlink, FlySafair and Lift – which is a “good thing, on the pricing side”.
“SAA could well, over a period, provide more domestic flights,” says Hanekom. “But as we stand there is a competitive domestic market.
“Where SAA has a serious advantage is with the kind of aircraft we have, the kind of expertise we have, the branding we have, and it’s on the regional flights and the intercontinental flights.”
