A South African Airways aeroplane is seen at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg / (Photo by Michele Spatari / AFP)
A South African Airways aeroplane is seen at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg / (Photo by Michele Spatari / AFP)
Every cloud has a silver lining, we suppose. There have been very few crumbs of comfort for South African Airways (SAA) over the past few months, but the airline has parasitcally through bailouts and loans from the state. So it’s perhaps fitting that something like the coronavirus is capable of giving the SOE a boost.
In a frankly incredible turn of events, Siviwe Dongwana – one of the two business practitioners in charge of saving SAA – has told Bloomberg that the spread of COVID-19 has had a positive impact on their operations:
“The coronavirus issues and the impact on the industry means that a lot more lessors are going to find themselves with a lot of aircraft. At a risk of being too much of an optimist that’s a silver lining for our renegotiation of aircraft…. We need to deal with everything now to cleanse the airline of sins of the past.”
Siviwe Dongwana on the coronavirus impact
As international markets and businesses head into a nosedive, it’s likely that South Africa’s domestic carrier will suddenly be in a stronger position to renegotiate key deals. Their newly-found ‘perks’ include the following:
SAA have also reassured passengers that they’re doing their utmost to fight the threat of coronavirus:
“The safety, health and wellbeing of our customers and crew is a number one priority,” The cleaning protocols our teams use to clean our aircraft have been intensified and focus among other things, on high frequent touch points such as handles, seatbelt buckles, tray tables and armrests.”
Hard surfaces such as lavatories, galley units and window shades are also thoroughly cleaned with multi-purpose cleaners. The Airbus fleet is equipped with state-of-the-art, high-efficiency particulate air filters that sift out and remove dust, bacteria, allergens and other unhygienic particles.”
SAA statement
High altitude hygiene #coronavirus https://t.co/ZbIsVem8r8
— TheSouthAfrican.com (@TheSAnews) March 12, 2020