South African Airways to seek partner ‘immediately,’ Union says

South African Airways has pledged to immediately begin a search for a private-sector partner to help turn around the troubled state-owned carrier and end six years of losses, according to the Solidarity labour group.

The pledge followed an attempt by the union to push SAA into business rescue and end its reliance on state funding. The airline last year needed a government bailout to avoid defaulting on debt.

Satisfied with an undertaking by Chief Executive Officer Vuyani Jarana to seek outside help, Solidarity has withdrawn the application, it said in an emailed statement Tuesday. The labour group reserves the right to refile should the promise not be implemented.

An investor or aviation partner has long been mooted as a solution to the financial crisis at SAA, though no candidates have ever come forward. Jarana said in April that the government was in talks with a private-equity firm, although the previous month he said the company’s balance sheet will need to be repaired before a new party could be introduced.

Solidarity’s business-rescue application runs to more than 1 000 pages and counts two former SAA CEOs, Nico Bezuidenhout and Monwabisi Kalawe, as contributors, the union said. Jarana took the helm in November, the seventh head of the airline since the start of the decade.

A spokesman for SAA didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.