Airbus Updates No.4584

 

South African Airways' added leases delayed to 2026

South African Airways' network rebuilding strategy has been set back, as an A320-200 and two A330-200s originally scheduled for delivery in 2025 from various lessors are now expected only in 2026, after their current operators chose to retain the aircraft longer, according to CCO Tebogo Tsimane.

He told Aviation Week at the recent 57th annual general assembly of the African Airlines Association (AFRAA) in Luanda, Angola, that the setback has "put our plan behind. This capacity is important to improve our codeshares and our connectivity because we are a network carrier and we are building a connecting schedule around Johannesburg O.R. Tambo, and then secondarily around Cape Town International."

SAA is looking for additional leased A330s to enter service in the second half of 2026, Tsimane said.

Group CEO John Lamola recently told ch-aviation that two A330-300s from flynas (XY, Riyadh), which were awaiting cabin modifications at Istanbul Airport, are no longer being taken due to high modification costs. He said replacements had been identified but declined to elaborate.

Lamola confirmed to ch-aviation at the AFRAA event that SAA is poised to issue a request for proposals (RFP) for its long-term fleet requirements before the end of 2025. The news was broken by ch-aviation in an earlier interview with Lamola, where he disclosed that SAA plans to purchase 28 new-generation airframes plus accompanying engines to be delivered from 2032 as part of its long-term fleet plan.

The airline is looking to acquire up to 16 widebodies for long-haul routes to be delivered in tranches of five from 2032, plus 12 new-generation narrowbodies, also to be delivered from 2032, to replace the airline’s A320-200s, whose leases are expiring.

Codeshare partnerships

In the meantime, SAA is accelerating its partnership growth, having signed new codeshare agreements with TAAG Angola Airlines in Luanda on December 1. SAA will add its flight code to TAAG-operated flights from Johannesburg and Cape Town to Luanda Dr António Agostinho Neto and onward connections to Lisbon and São Paulo Guarulhos.

This was followed by a codeshare agreement between SAA and Turkish Airlines on December 4, signed alongside a Star Alliance Chief Executive Board meeting in Geneva. SAA will codeshare on Turkish-operated flights from Istanbul to Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban King Shaka, Frankfurt International, Paris CDG, and London Heathrow.

This follows similar commercial partnerships in 2025 with Lufthansa, Emirates, and CemAir.

SAA currently operates an in-house fleet of 18 aircraft, including fourteen leased A320-200s, two leased A330-300s, and two company-owned A340-300s. In addition, it wet-leases one A330-300 from Hi Fly Malta for added capacity regionally to Accra and Abidjan and intercontinentally to Brazil; and two B737-800s from SunExpress to boost domestic capacity over the December peak summer holiday season in South Africa.

Airbus Updates No.3998

 

SAA issues RFP for dry-lease of four A320s

South African Airways Airbus A320-200© Airbus Industrie

08.05.2023 - 10:11 UTC

South African Airways (SA, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo) has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a 36-month operating lease of four A320-200/A320-200Ns, marking a significant expansion of its fleet to pave the way for the relaunch of its first intercontinental route and increased seat capacity for its regional and domestic destinations.

The airline plans to lease six aircraft to be delivered before the end of 2023, including one wide-body and five narrow-bodies.

"Currently, a Request for Proposals (RFP) is out for four A320 narrow-body aircraft. The other two - an A330 and A320 have already been secured from the lessor community on the same terms as the ones issued in the RFP,” interim Chief Executive Officer John Lamola said in a statement issued late on May 5. "The four aircraft that we are ordering will all be deployed by September 2023."

According to the RFP document, SAA is also looking to replace five A320-200s and one A330 whose operating leases expire starting February 2025 and 2026. "SAA will also consider proposals that include the replacement of these aircraft with A320 CEO or NEO aircraft (not older than 2013) as a package deal, in addition to the four aircraft acquisitions," the RFP reads.

The first additional A320-200 will be delivered in June 2023, two more in July, and the last in August. Proposals that provide for leases on a so-called "power-by-the-hour" costing basis for a term of 12 to 36 months are preferred, but a monthly fixed lease rate would be considered. The aircraft must be configured with 138 seats: 34 in business class and 114 in economy class.

"This is a significant boost for the domestic and regional markets and underscores our commitment to expanding our route network and increasing our frequency in the African market. It will also ensure that the equilibrium between the supply of seats and the flow of traffic will benefit our passengers,” Lamola added.

The relaunch of the first longhaul route will be announced within weeks, the airline said.

Airbus Updates No.3971

Lufthansa acquires second hand Airbus A350s

Last month, Lufthansa ordered additional new widebodies with Boeing and Airbus but the Group clearly has a hunger for more as it now acquired second hand A350-900s as well. In total, the airline has secured six A350-900s, which were previously operated by LATAM and South African Airways. The aircraft involved are:

• N285BN (035), former LATAM, currently stored at Victorville (CA) since 19 August 2021.
• N286BN (045), former LATAM, currently stored at Victorville (CA) since 26 October 2021.
• N287BN (079), former LATAM, currently stored at Victorville (CA) since 21 July 2021.
• N264AR (363), former LATAM, currently stored at Victorville (CA) since 25 June 2021.
• OE-IPK (226), former South African Airways, currently stored at Teruel since 15 July 2020.
• OE-IPX (245), former South African Airways, currently stored at Teruel since 11 July 2020.

When the six A350s will join the fleet is unclear but it's expected they will do so after an extensive refitting to the Lufthansa cabin lay-out.

It's not the first time Lufthansa secures second-hand A350s, as the airline has previously sourced four A350-900s from Philippine Airlines.

Today, Lufthansa has 21 A350-900s and a further 33 new on order with Airbus, making them one of the largest operators and customers for the type.

Airbus Updates No.3939

 

South African Airways details new A350 long-haul plans

South African Airways Airbus A350-900© South African Airways

28.02.2023 - 05:11 UTC

South African Airways (SA, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo) has long-term plans to reintroduce A350 operations to resume most long-haul routes it was flying before the Covid-19 pandemic, says interim chief commercial officer, Tebogo Tsimane.

To start with, the state-owned airline plans to use its leased A330-300s to launch two long-haul routes – to Sao Paulo Guarulhos (Brazil) and Perth International (Australia) - by the end of the current financial year ending March 31, 2023, he said on a recent Travel News Weekly webcast.

A second phase will see the national carrier resume flights to Frankfurt International (Germany), London Heathrow (UK), Washington Dulles and New York JFK (USA) with A350s. It is also looking at routes in the pipeline before it entered bankruptcy in December 2019 and stopped all commercial flights in 2020, including another gateway to Australia – probably Melbourne Tullamarine – but "this would take a while," he said.

SAA previously operated four A350-900s between October 2019 and August 2020, including former Air Mauritius aircraft and two ex-Hainan Airlines aircraft leased from Avolon, the ch-aviation fleets history module shows.

"The routes that we've picked for this year are the routes that will be easier and quicker for us to start. They do not require the type of investment that will take us long," he explained.

Apart from restarting long-haul operations, the state-owned carrier also plans to add schedules to more coastal destinations, including between Cape Town and Durban, Johannesburg and George, and Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth, Tsimane disclosed.

SAA resumed commercial flights on September 23, 2021, as a vastly diminished carrier after a ZAR10.5 billion rand (USD570.3 million) bailout with a small fleet of six aircraft comprising three A319-100s leased from Castlelake, two A320-200s leased from Goshawk, and one A330-300 leased from Aero Capital Solutions. With the addition of three more A320-200s leased from GECAS, the fleet has since grown to ten aircraft, which includes one in-house A340-300 used as a spare, ch-aviation fleets advanced data reveals. The flag carrier operated 44 aircraft before it entered voluntary administration. Its business rescue plan foresaw a fleet of 26 aircraft by December 2021, comprising ten "small narrowbodies" [presumably regional aircraft], nine narrowbodies, and seven widebodies.

The airline initially resumed services on one domestic route between Johannesburg O.R. Tambo and Cape Town and on five regional routes: Accra (Ghana), Harare International (Zimbabwe), Kinshasa N'Djili (DRC), Lusaka (Zambia), and Maputo (Mozambique). It has since introduced services to Durban King Shaka, Blantyre and Lilongwe (Malawi), Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe), Mauritius, and Windhoek International (Namibia).

The airline is to receive another ZAR1 billion (USD) state bailout to settle a portion of the outstanding obligations on the implementation of its business rescue plan. The funds will be used to cover outstanding liabilities, specifically those relating to the final dividend payment to creditors and the refund of legacy unflown ticket revenue dating back to the pre-business rescue period in December 2019.

Commenting on the latest bailout, SAA's Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, John Lamola, stated: "SAA's operations have progressed positively since the airline emerged from business rescue, and as reported to Parliament earlier this month, SAA is no longer technically insolvent, a milestone which we reached a year earlier than projected".

Chief Financial Officer Fikile Mhlontlo added: "SAA has reached a point where we cover our operating costs. It must be emphasised that the allocation announced relates only to historical debt. These funds are not meant to bolster the business plan we are currently executing".

The airline explained that the ZAR1 billion allocation was part of ZAR3.5 billion (USD190 million) that its administrators had ring-fenced into a receivership. "The total balance expected from National Treasury has been reduced to ZAR2.586 billion (USD140.4 million). The airline will continue to negotiate with National Treasury for the balance of the funds and cooperate with all the conditions that may accompany the flow of these funds," it stated.

Takatso, the government's preferred strategic equity partner for the semi-privatisation of SAA, said the allocation fell short of clearing the historical debt, which the government has undertaken to do as one of the conditions for finalising the transaction that has been negotiated for almost two years since first announced in June 2021. "The partial fulfilment of this obligation is not what Takatso Aviation had expected. We will therefore have to assess the impact thereof on the progress of the transaction," it stated.

Lamola previously told ch-aviation that SAA would double its leased fleet to 12 aircraft by April 2023 as part of a fleet and intercontinental route expansion plan to be implemented irrespective of delays or even indefinite postponement of the privatisation deal with Takatso.

He said by April 2023, the fleet would consist of ten A320-200s, one A330-300, and another wide-body (A350) for intercontinental routes.

Airbus Updates No.3891

 

New German Airbus A340-operator: USC

AeroTelegraph is reporting that a new Airbus A340-operator is in the works in Germany called USC. The company, which was officially founded in November 2020 as Universal Sky Carrier, is planning to offer Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance, and Insurance (ACMI)-services with a fleet of two A340s. The new airline will operate out of Frankfurt and will offer passenger- and cargo-flights to customers.

According to the article on the German aviation news site, USC has acquired one Airbus A340-300, which will be registered D-AUSC (646), and one A340-600, which will become D-AUSZ (557). Both A340s are former South African Airways-aircraft and currently parked at Johannesburg.

Illustration by USC. 

Airbus Updates No.3827

 

South African Airways to exit A340, A319 fleet

South African Airways Airbus A340-300© Star Alliance

14.10.2022 - 02:29 UTC

South African Airways (SA, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo) is replacing its only remaining A340-300 with a similar capacity aircraft and will exit its A319-100 fleet in 2023, says Chief Commercial Officer Tebogo Tsimane.

"As we increase fleet size to match the needs of the growing network schedule, we are encouraged that our strategy to cautiously re-enter markets abandoned due to the Covid pandemic has served us very well during the past 12 months, and we will continue to follow that cautious risk-adjusted trajectory," he said in a statement. The A340-300 is currently used as a spare to support the schedule during required fleet maintenance or when capacity demand requires the deployment of a larger aircraft.

SAA is also leasing three more A320-200s, bringing the total number of A320s in its fleet to five to support expected high-capacity demand as South Africa's peak summer holiday season approaches in December. As reported, the first of these - ZS-SZD (msn 6007) - was delivered on September 25, 2022, and is currently in maintenance in Johannesburg. The rest will be delivered monthly thereafter.

Over the last two weeks, SAA has also switched on some days from a narrowbody A320-200 to a larger widebody A330-300 on two of its busiest routes to Harare Int'l (Zimbabwe) from Johannesburg O.R. Tambo and Cape Town.

According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, SAA's currently operates seven Airbus aircraft, including;

• three A319-100s leased from Castlelake;
• two A320-200s leased from GECAS and Goshawk;
• one A330-300 leased from Aergo Capital; and
• one in-house A340-300.

"SAA's current business plan is to ramp up operations aggressively and to implement a fleet strategy that will continue to gain momentum of growing our regional-continental services and introduce international-long haul services," Tsimane added.

SAA Executive Chairman John Lamola said the additional seat capacity would help to restore the balance between supply and demand in the market. Airfares in the domestic and regional sectors have sky-rocketed following the exit of Comair (South Africa) (which held 40% domestic market share), SAA's budget subsidiary Mango Airlines, and regional feeder South African Express.

Despite ongoing delays with the implementation of the capital restructuring transaction involving the Takatso Consortium, the government's preferred strategic equity (SEP) partner for the semi-privatisation of SAA, the airline insists it "is on course to deliver a commercially sustainable and world-class air passenger and cargo services in South Africa, regionally and soon globally".

"There is a clear demarcation of focus between the SAA management that is driving a plan for competitive airline operations and the oversight of matters relating to the SEP, which are being managed by the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE). SAA management is relentlessly implementing the expansion of the airline to match market dynamics in both the domestic and international scene," it stated.

Airbus Updates No.3604

 

Delta acquires additional A350s

During the presentation of its Q3-2021 results, Delta Air Lines announced it has acquired two addtional A350-900s. According to several aviation sites, the duo will be acquired from Avolon and are OE-IPK (226) and OE-IPX (245). Both were previously in use with South African Airways and are stored at Teruel in Spain.

The acquisition marks another expansion of the A350-fleet after the airline announced in July it was going to lease seven former LATAM A350-900s via AerCap. With this latest two, Delta will grow its fleet eventually to 44 A350-900s.

Airbus Updates No.3509

 

SAA welcomes back A320s, unions fight Mango court ruling

South African Airways Airbus A320-200© Airbus Industrie

13.08.2021 - 03:28 UTC

South African Airways (SA, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo) welcomed back two of its A320-200s which arrived at Johannesburg O.R. Tambo on August 12, 2021, after having been in storage and having undergone C-Check maintenance at Abu Dhabi Int'l during the carrier’s time in business rescue.

ZS-SZI (msn 6439) and ZS-SZJ (msn 6478) left Abu Dhabi on August 12 and operated via Dar es Salaam to arrive in Johannesburg in the late afternoon, Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows. They are both leased from Goshawk through Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) Letaba Aviation Leasing Ltd. The six-year-old aircraft have been part of the SAA fleet since 2015. The airline at one stage had 19 of the type in the fleet, according to the ch-aviation fleets history module.

“This is another noteworthy milestone towards full operational readiness. The image of two SAA aircraft landing and taxiing to their parking bays is a tangible manifestation of the hard work the airline’s staff are putting in,” commented interim chief executive Thomas Kgokolo.

The aircraft would undergo minimum routine maintenance and re-installation of mandatory SAA equipment in Johannesburg. Kgokolo said work continued in readying staff and "fine-tuning logistics" ahead of SAA’s return to service on a date still to be announced. He earlier said the airline would first restart cargo operations this month before resuming limited passenger services on South Africa's trunk routes.

After 16 months in administration, SAA exited business rescue on April 30, 2021, after receiving ZAR7.8 billion (USD556 million) of a ZAR10.5 billion (USD749 million) state bail-out. The balance was diverted to SAA's subsidiaries, Mango Airlines (JE, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo), SAA Technical, and Air Chefs.

Meanwhile, labour unions representing Mango employees will appeal a South African High Court decision on Monday which dismissed their urgent application to place the stricken airline in forced bankruptcy protection. Instead, the court ruled in favour of an application by the Mango board, supported by the board of SAA and the government as its shareholder, to place Mango into voluntary administration, effective from July 28, 2021.

The Mango Pilots Association (MPA), the South African Cabin Crew Association (SACCA) and the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) had wanted to appoint their own administrator, arguing that the lengthy business rescue process of SAA had cost taxpayers millions in administrator fees.

“We want to ensure a genuine turn-around strategy which is not based on retrenchments, but on making the business viable in the long term. We also want to prevent another wasteful rescue process where consultants earned in excess of ZAR200 million rands (USD13.5 million), whilst workers were denied their salaries and starved for many months as a result. It is for all these reasons, and a desire to protect workers and their interests, that we have decided that we will be pursuing the matter further. We intend to appeal this judgement,” they said in a statement.

The unions had argued that Mango’s bid for voluntary administration had been invalid as the Board had decided on April 16, 2021, to place the airline into administration, but had waited until July 28, 2021, to file this resolution at South Africa’s Companies and Intellectual Properties Commission (CIPC). In terms of the country’s Companies Act, this should have been done within five days to take effect. The unions expressed concern the court’s ruling had set a “dangerous” legal precedent. “Companies will theoretically, be able to pass a business rescue resolution but never file it. As was the case with the Mango board, who sat on the resolution for three and half months. They can then effectively use it at a later date as a get out of jail free card, should a liquidation application be brought against the company,” they argued.

Lessor Aergen had filed for the liquidation of Mango in April but has withdrawn its application in light of the business rescue process.

Airbus Updates No.2796

South African Airways’ Remaining A350s Returned To Air Mauritius

The last of South African Airways’ A350 has left Johannesburg. Following the departure of two A350s in July, today the final two have made the three and a half hour journey across the ocean to the island of Mauritius. They are being returned to Air Mauritius, but it is not known what will happen to them next.

The end of the A350 for SAA

South African Airways’ flirtation with the A350 was rather short-lived. It was hoped that the arrival of these high capacity, efficient jets would allow it to streamline operations and shed inefficient aircraft like its A340s. While they filled that role for a short while, SAA’s financial situation coupled with the COVID grounding meant their place in the fleet was no longer required.

The first two A350s, ZS-SDD and ZS-SDC flew to Teruel on July the 10th and 14th respectively. Although these were originally destined for Hainan Airlines, they arrived with South African Airways in November last year.

These two will likely remain in storage at Teruel until the lessor can find another airline to take them on.

Now, the remaining two A350s have left South Africa, headed back to the airline that owns them. Both were leased from struggling Air Mauritius, which entered administration itself in April this year.

Today, ZS-SDE and ZS-SDF made their way from Johannesburg to Port Louis. SDE departed first, leaving South Africa at around 12:14. 45 minutes later, SDF also departed. They travelled in convoy, touching down in Port Louis around three and a half hours later. It was the first time both aircraft had flown, apart from a few maintenance flights, since the end of March.

The two A350s traveled in convoy to Mauritius. Image: FlightRadar24.com

Both aircraft have already been given back their old registrations – 3B-NBR and 3B-NBS. It appears that both aircraft will, for the time being, rejoin the Air Mauritius fleet. Whether they will fly any revenue flights remains to be seen.

Air Mauritius continues to fly

While South African Airways remains grounded, Air Mauritius continues to fly. The airline resumed commercial flights between Port Louis and Rodrigues on July 1st and announce this week that it would be ramping up these flights to three per day from September 1st.

Although the airline entered voluntary administration in April, it has not stopped operating. There was some discussion about liquidation of the airline back in June, but as of today, nothing has been decided for sure.

What we do know is that Air Mauritius is looking to sell those aircraft which it owns outright. These include two A340-300s, one A330-200 and two A319-100s. At this stage, it is unknown whether the A350s will also be put up for sale, or if Air Mauritius will attempt to get some use out of them.

At the present time, international flights have been suspended from Mauritius until at least the start of October. As part of its restructuring, Air Mauritius is reviewing its entire network. At least in the short term, these shiny new A350s will be unlikely to see any passenger service and will be simply resting in the sun at Port Louis.

Airbus Updates No.2735

South African Airways Sends 2 A350s To Spanish Aircraft Graveyard

South African Airways has sent two of its Airbus A350s to a Spanish aircraft graveyard. The two A350s were leased from Avolon, joining the fleet last November, having previously flown for Hainan Airlines. According to data from Planespotters.net, both aircraft are no longer part of the SAA fleet.

Two South African Airways Airbus A350s have been sent to a long term storage facility. Photo: South African Airways

It has been an interesting year for South African Airways. The airline was already struggling before the current pandemic. In January, the airline canceled many services to conserve cash. The airline was placed into business rescue proceedings in early December, and just yesterday, Simple Flying reported that the airline’s rescue plan has now been approved.

A350s to Teruel

South African Airways has four Airbus A350s. Two were leased from Avolon, with the other two being hired from Air Mauritius. Air Mauritius is currently in voluntary administration. The two from Avolon have now been ferried to Teruel, a Spanish aircraft graveyard towards the north-east of the country.

ZS-SDD was the first A350 to make the voyage north to Spain. The aircraft departed Johannesburg at 23:30 on July 10th. It flew for 9 hours and 39 minutes, cruising at a height of 43,000 feet, before touching down in Teruel at 09:47 the next morning.

ZS-SDC followed its sister up to Teruel last night. The aircraft departed Johannesburg slightly later at 00:38 this morning. It touched down in Teruel at 10:13 after an ever so slightly shorter 9-hour and 35-minute flight. The plane flew between 40,000 and 41,000 feet for the duration of the cruise.

These two aircraft have now been returned to the lessor and transferred to long term storage in Spain. It is unclear exactly how long these aircraft will remain there at the present point in time. Given the current situation, demand may not exist for them right away, but it will surely return as more flights return to the skies.

For the time being, only one other South African Airways aircraft has been flown to Teruel, an A330 registered as ZS-SXU. However, while they may be the only A350s at the facility, they are far from the only aircraft.

Airbus Updates No.2695

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - After having been given yet another cash injection by the South African government, the financially distressed national airline of the country is quietly removing its Airbus A340s from the fleet.

South African Airways returns 19 dry-leased aircraft, including seven Airbus A319-100s, one Airbus A330-200, three Airbus A340-300s, three Airbus A340-600s, and five Airbus A330-200s.

After the return of the dry-leased planes, the state-owned airline will continue its operations with three Airbus A319s, ten Airbus A320s, one Airbus A330-200, five Airbus A330-300s, and four Airbus A350-900s.

The A320s, which the airline is still holding on to, will likely be superfluous going forward because it is expected that domestic and regional operations will be left for its subsidiary Mango, which operates a Boeing fleet.

South African Airways has not made a profit since 2011

It was assumed that the airline would be dissolved and have any remaining assets sold off. Then suddenly the government backtracked and provided financial assistance to keep its flag carrier flying.

Then came the coronavirus pandemic, which forced the government to provide an extra $1.2 billion to help SAA restart after COVID-19 restrictions had been lifted.

Airbus Updates No.2451

South African Airways puts nine A340s for sale

South African Airways Airbus A340-300 © Star Alliance

16.01.2020 - 23:35 UTC

South African Airways (SA, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo) has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the sale of five A340-300s and four A340-600s, as well as 15 spare engines and four APU units.

According to tender documentation seen by ch-aviation, the A340-300s are ZS-SXD (msn 643), ZS-SXE (msn 646), ZS-SXF (msn 651), ZS-SXG (msn 378), and ZS-SXH (msn 197). The airline is also selling the following -600s: ZS-SNC (msn 426), ZS-SND (msn 531), ZS-SNF (msn 547), and ZS-SNG (msn 557). According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, the -300s are between 15.6 and 22.3 years of age, while the -600s are between 16.1 and 17 years old.

The tender also covers three CFM International CFM56-5C4/P engines and twelve Rolls-Royce Trent 556 engines, as well as four Honeywell Aerospace GTCP331-350 APU units.

The carrier said that all the aircraft, engines, and APUs are serviceable with the exception of A340-300 ZS-SXH which "is only available for teardown".

If the sale is successful, South African Airways will retain three A340-300s and five -600s in its fleet.

Potential bidders have until January 30, 2020, to submit offers for any of the assets. The offers will remain valid for 180 days.

Besides the Airbus quadjets, SAA's widebody fleet also includes six A330-200s, five A330-300s, and three recently delivered A350-900s.

The sale of A340s is one of many actions undertaken by South African Airways to improve its notoriously woeful financial standing. In December, the carrier entered bankruptcy protection with the government and commercial lenders each committing to inject an extra ZAR2 billion rands (USD140 million). However, president of National Transport Movement labour union Mashudu Raphetha told Reuters that the government has yet to provide its share of the injection. In turn, the capital made available by the banks has already been used by the cash-guzzling airline.

Raphetha warned that if the government does not contribute its share by January 19, the airline might be forced to cancel flights and delay salary payments.

Separately, SAA said it will appeal the recent ruling by Zimbabwean High Court ordering it to pay USD877,435 dollars in outstanding "meteorological weather fees" to the country's Environment, Water and Climate Ministry for a period between 2006 and 2014.

"SAA's legal representatives in Zimbabwe have filed an appeal against the judgment in the Supreme Court. There will, therefore, be no action that can be taken against SAA, until the determination of the case by the Zimbabwean Supreme Court," spokesperson Tlali Tlali told Tourism Update.