The Citizen reports that state-owned budget airline Mango will not resume operations in December this year as outlined in its business rescue plan, if shareholder SA Airways (SAA) and the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) have their way.

In an exchange of correspondence between SAA interim chairperson John Lamola and business rescue practitioner Sipho Sono, Mango is explicitly instructed not to pursue the intent of the plan, published at the end of October. This could mean the end of Mango and all 709 jobs soon. The SAA chair maintained that “SAA as the sole shareholder of Mango was not in a position to provide nor to motivate to SAA’s shareholder for any capital injection required to return Mango to commercial operations.” Lamola added that there was no funding available for working capital to allow Mango to resume operations. Earlier this year, R 819 million was allocated to the ailing airline through a Special Appropriation to assist in its survival. Mango will be meeting with creditors on Friday, 5 November and Sono noted that the correspondence advising SAA’s position would be made available to all stakeholders.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Hein Kaiser at The Citizen

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