Reuters reports that a trade union official said on Wednesday that South African Airways (SAA) might have to suspend some flights and delay salary payments if the government cannot not come up with a plan soon to provide the R2 billion it promised the airline last month.  

The state-owned national carrier entered business rescue last month in an effort to rescue the company and 10,000 related jobs.  At the time it was promised R2 billion from the government and R2 billion from lenders.  But unions briefed by the business rescue practitioners (BRPs) were told on Wednesday that the government had not yet been able to provide its portion of the funds.  Mashudu Raphetha of the National Transport Movement said unions were told that clarity was needed from government on the R2 billion of promised funding by 19 January.  The BRPs said in a statement:  “We remain hopeful that a mechanism can be found to unlock the liquidity constraints.  Government continues to indicate its support for the business rescue process and together we are considering various scenarios to keep the entity operational. … The liquidation of SAA is not one such current scenario.”

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Alexander Winning at Moneyweb
• Read too, Tito Mboweni on SAA funding: We’re working on it, at BusinessLive

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