At a creditors meeting hosted by the South African Airways (SAA) Business Rescue Practitioners (BRPs), 86% of the attendees voted in favour of the SAA business rescue plan that will allow the national airline to be restructured instead of liquidated.
The Department of Public Enterprises said in a statement, “The DPE believes that the favourable vote is a much better outcome for creditors and SAA employees than liquidation, and the government remains confident that the implementation of the business rescue plan will balance the rights and interests of all parties,”
The DPE says that its main focus now is meeting the funding commitments by the government for the business rescue plan. These include the money needed to launch the new national airline, pay creditors, appoint new staff members and pay voluntary severance packages to the 2 700 retrenched workers.
Phillips Saunders has been announced as the interim SAA CEO with the interim board yet to be announced.
The DPE says it hopes that SAA can reclaim the market share and be a competitive member in the aviation industry.
