There is only one way to get the airline to flourish, and that is to free the government’s stronghold
Business is, for the most part, not rocket science. Take an airline: At the heart of it, you need the right planes on the right routes, with a low enough cost base that you can offer seats to customers at competitive prices.
Some also play an important developmental role, with governments successfully using the airline to boost their tourism sectors, as is the case in Mauritius.At SAA, much of the ire about what appears to be its perennially loss-making operations has been directed at what is seen as incompetent management.
Support has come through piecemeal efforts from the government, but the reality is that sufficient resources — of both financial and, crucially, political capital — are never made available that would allow SAA to fully implement a turnaround plan and get on with the business of running an airline, free of political interference.
The reality is that SAA is to a large extent overly indebted. Without a massive restructure and capital injection, it will remain a problem child, unable to compete with private sector operators that have the financial flexibility to respond to commercial opportunities.
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