South African Airways says it will “cancel and consolidate” selected flights in order to lower costs – that announcement coming two days after it received a government bailout to ease a cash-flow crunch at the struggling carrier.
SAA – which has not turned a profit since 2011 – said it had scrutinized flights, canceling some where there was low demand.
But a spokesman for the company did not answer requests for details on the number of flights that could be cut.
On Tuesday (January 28) SAA received 3.5 billion rand, or 244 million U.S. dollars, from the state-owned Development Bank of Southern Africa.
The Treasury had initially promised a a 2 billion rand rescue package, but that funding stalled when the finance minister insisted it be provided in a way that avoided increasing the budget deficit.
Apart from the development bank loan, the airline has also received bridging loans from commercial creditors.