Serbia-Montenegro airspace sees record traffic

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

Serbia-Montenegro airspace sees record traffic

NEWS FLASH

The Serbia and Montenegro Air Traffic Services Agency (SMATSA) registered its busiest day on record this past Saturday, August 17. During the 24-hour period, it handled 3.201 flights. "Despite the increase in flight operations, high levels of safety were maintained. Furthermore, average delays were significantly less compared to the rest of the region and Europe as well", SMATSA said in a statement. Since the start of the year, SMATSA saw a 9% increase in the number of handled flights.

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Anonymous14:14
Fantastic results by SMATSA, they are truly one of the better ATC institutions in Europe unlike Hungarians who are causing massive delays all around.
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Anonymous16:56
+1
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Anonymous02:24
SMATSA was great but too many politically employed consultants and similar stealth jobs from SNS are ruining it. SMATSA is on the edge when it comes to staffing and quality. If the trend continues, it will implode.
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Anonymous16:40
Are you saying it is not true?
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Serbia-Montenegro airspace sees record traffic

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