saa thumb medium95 76Engineering News reports that trade union Solidarity announced on Friday that it would be continuing with its court application to place South African Airways (SAA) under business rescue, despite another government bailout for the airline.  

This followed a statement on Thursday by SAA CEO Vuyani Jarana that the government had promised another R5-billion capital injection for the carrier.  SAA has not recorded a profit since 2011 and has so far received State guarantees totalling close to R20-billion.  Since 2012 it has racked up losses totalling R32-billion, Solidarity reported.  The union stated that this latest bailout confirmed that the airline was not a going concern and that the new injection was “merely sticking a plaster on a problem”.  “Carrying on with the current strategy is not right and it is not fair to the taxpayer,” affirmed Solidarity Research Institute (SRI) head Connie Mulder.  The union was due to meet with its legal team on Friday, to consider the latest news concerning the airline as well as to finalise its court papers.  The papers applying for the business rescue of SAA will be served before the end of this month.


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