SWAGMAN Tours is urging the industry to get behind the beleaguered South African Airways, with CEO Wayne Hamilton guaranteeing any new SAA bookings made from now until the end of Mar 2020, regardless of travel date.
Hamilton, who is currently in South Africa, said despite the pressure on the country’s flag carrier, he is confident that the airline will not disappear.
“We at Swagman have seen the damage that strikes and misleading media can do to an airline, and it is in our industry’s interest to support SAA, not walk away from them, in their time of need,” the operator’s CEO said.
“Sensational negative headlines just make people panic…we believe SAA will come out the other side better and stronger than before,” Hamilton added.
He said the guarantee simply meant that Swagman would reimburse the cost of clients’ SAA tickets in the unlikely event that SAA goes into liquidation.
SAA, which was earlier this week cut from the AFTA Chargeback Scheme (TD 03 Dec), has now been placed into a “business rescue” process which will allow it to continue operating in an “orderly and safe manner and to keep planes and passengers flying under the direction of a business rescue practitioner,” according to South African Minister of Public Enterprises, Pravin Gordhan.
The carrier will also receive a cash infusion of about US$270m.
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Source: traveldaily