The business rescue practitioners of SAA announced on Tuesday that ground staff and cabin crew who took voluntary severance packages in August 2020 have been paid.
Management specialists and pilots who took packages are to be paid this week.
The overall cost of the retrenchments at the time the business rescue plan was approved was estimated at R2.8bn. The packages were paid out of R10.5bn paid by the fiscus to SAA as tabled in the October medium-term budget policy statement. The business rescue practitioners have so far received R7.8bn of the funds allocated for the rescue, they said in a statement.
The retrenchment programme included 3,246 employees across all categories and closed at the end of August 2020. Employees who signed the offers left the company at that time. Lower-paid staff — excluding management and pilots — received generous packages. In addition to statutory requirements and back pay, they also received a top-up incentive to take the packages.
SAA’s pilots remain in dispute with the airline over conditions of service agreements that they have not accepted.
With R7.8bn of the funds allocated to SAA already consumed, the airline has about R2bn in working capital for when it resumes operations. While some cargo flights are operating, passenger flights have not resumed. It is unlikely these could resume without a strategic equity partner in place to provide additional funding for the restart.
The department of public enterprises said in January it had provided a shortlist of bidders to the newly installed board of SAA to consider offers. The department said securing a partner remained the critical factor as it was expected to provide additional operating capital.
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