PORT ELIZABETH - SA EXPRESS CANCELS FLIGHTS TO PE & EAST LONDON

Cash-strapped state owned airline SA Express has suspended its flights from Johannesburg to East London and Port Elizabeth‚ as well as from Cape Town to Durban.

The suspension will come into effect on Saturday October 15‚ 2016‚ according to a trade notice reported on travel portal FlightSite.co.za.

All passengers affected by the suspensions will be accommodated on Mango and SAA‚ according to the report.

Last month‚ BDLive reported that SA Express was unable to satisfy the Auditor-General that it can meet the solvency and liquidity tests of the Companies Act and that it can continue to operate as a going concern.

Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown broke this news to Speaker of the National Assembly Baleka Mbete. Brown said she was therefore unable to table the airline’s 2015-16 annual financial statements.

SAA was in a similar position for about a year as it waited for Treasury to grant it a going-concern guarantee of R4.7 billion which it did earlier this month. This brought the airline’s total guarantee to R19 billion.

SA Express is also dependent on state guarantees‚ which currently amount to R1.1 billion. It required an additional guarantee in 2014-15 to fund its working capital and asset-based finance facilities.

In April‚ SA Express’ operator’s certificate was suspended for 42 hours after the airline failed to meet the South African Civil Aviation Authority’s systems quality assurance requirements.

VIA - sowetanlive.co.za