FlyBosnia begins Hajj flights

GLOBAL AVIATION NEWS

SAA sold

South Africa agreed to sell a majority stake in the country’s grounded national carrier to a local jet-leasing company and private-equity firm, ridding the government of an entity that has long been a drain on state finances. A consortium comprised of Johannesburg-based Global Airways, which owns recently launched domestic airline Lift, and private-equity firm Harith General Partners will take a 51% shareholding in South African Airways (SAA), Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan said. The government will retain a minority stake. The grouping named Takatso will invest as much as 3.5 billion rand ($258 million) over the next three years, Lift co-founder, Gidon Novick, and Harith Chief Executive Officer, Tshepo Mahloele, said in an interview. “Government will have no further financial obligations to the company, outside of the existing liabilities that they will settle”, Novick said. He added, “Route networks we are still working on, and it will be a phased roll-out based on demand re-emerging post Covid”. The sale of SAA comes about six weeks after the airline emerged from lengthy bankruptcy proceedings, having reduced its workforce by almost 80% and cut liabilities to about 2.6 billion rand. The next challenge is to resume international flights, though South Africa remains cut off from much of the world due to pandemic travel restrictions. A longer-term goal is to list the carrier on a stock exchange, Gordhan said. In the meantime, the government will retain special voting rights to ensure the airline remains in the country, among other national priorities. The deal represents a triumph of sorts for Gordhan, who has argued for the revival of SAA with the help of private investors while others were calling for it to be liquidated. While SAA is now “solvent and liquid,” business-rescue practitioners said when handing over the aircraft, subsidiaries including low cost arm Mango and maintenance firm SAA Technical remain under financial strain and are in the process of being recapitalized. The Department of Public Enterprises and the new consortium will together assess the future of the divisions as part of the due diliegence process, Gordhan said.
Source: Bloomberg

FlyBosnia begins Hajj flights

NEWS FLASH

FlyBosnia has commenced Hajj flights from Sarajevo today, carrying passengers to the annual Islamic pilgrimage in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. In addition to its scheduled flight to Riyadh, FlyBosnia is today operating three charter services to Medina. This will be followed by a further three flights on Tuesday. On Wednesday the airline will run four flights to Medina. FlyBosnia will complete its Hajj operations on Thursday with another four rotations from Sarajevo. Last year, Hajj flights from Bosnia and Herzegovina's capital were operated by Turkish Airlines.

Cover image courtesy of @sjj.aviation

Comments

edervisevic13:16
I bilo je krajnje vrijeme da se leti svojom kompanijom, bilo bi smijesno da FBS leti tri destinacije u KSA a da ne rade HAJJ 2019. Sretno i hairli da prodju svi letovi. Samo mi nije jasno kako idu neparni brojevi leta iz baze SJJ dok su parni na povratku, jel to neki novitet ?!?
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danish13:23
hajj is the 5th pillar of Islam 5 day event the hajj 2019
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FlyBosnia begins Hajj flights

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