Lufthansa chairman and chief executive Jürgen Weber says that the privatisation of South African Airways (SAA) is unlikely to take place before next year.
Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines (SIA) are seen as front runners to take a 20-35% stake in the South African flag carrier, which was expected to announce an equity partner by the end of 1998.
Weber remains optimistic about the Lufthansa bid, but says SAA is facing a hold-up over the problem of settling its state pension fund. The airline has not built up sufficient funding reserves to establish a viable pension scheme - a problem Lufthansa faced in its own privatisation. Lufthansa's pension troubles were only solved by a DM500 million ($300 million) injection of government cash to help set up a new pension fund.
Other bidders for the SAA stake include Swissair, representing the Qualiflyer alliance, the American Airlines/British Airways-led oneworld alliance, and the KLM/ Northwest Airlines/Continental Airlines/Alitalia grouping.
Weber says that SAA will remain a regional partner of the Star Alliance, and will not be made a full member. SAA recently established bilateral agreements with SIA and Swissair, and extended an alliance with Lufthansa, in anticipation of the privatisation.
The latest bilaterals are to come into effect up to next April and include extended codesharing, integration of frequent flier programmes, joint sales and marketing, reciprocal wet leasing, joint training and possible integration of SAA, Lufthansa, SIA and DHL's cargo networks.
Source: Flight International
