MangoFin24 reports that three unions at Mango say they intend to appeal a ruling placing the low-cost airline in voluntary business rescue, pending consideration of the judge's reasons for his decision.

The Mango Pilots Association (MPA), the SA Cabin Crew Association (Sacca) and the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) originally approached the South Gauteng High Court on an urgent basis to request an order placing the airline under business rescue. The unions wanted Ralph Lutchman to be appointed as the business rescue practitioner. The court dismissed the unions' application and instead granted Mango's own application to be allowed to go into business rescue on a voluntary basis. This means Mango will have a say in who is appointed as business rescue practitioner. The judge still has to provide his reasons for dismissing the union's application in favour of Mango's. "We are disappointed with the ruling. We sought a fair, open and transparent process in collaboration with Mango management, which is why we approached the court. We want to ensure a genuine turnaround strategy which is not based on retrenchments, but on making the business viable in the long term... We intend to appeal this judgment," the three unions indicated on Wednesday. Meantime, the Department of Public Enterprises welcomed the judgment to place Mango under voluntary business rescue, saying it brought certainty to the process that would unfold to restructure Mango and ensure a sustainable aviation asset serving the low-cost market.


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